Minister Chan Chun Sing: Singaporeans should stop waiting for system to change
November 24, 2017
When questioned by a primary school teacher how is the government going to change the education from one that focus on academics yesterday (Nov 24), Minister of State Chan Chun Sing said Singaporeans should stop waiting for the system to change and start changing themselves instead:
“Who makes up the system? We are all collectively responsible. We all make individual responsibilities for ourselves, our families, our children. We all have a responsibility to do this together. Society itself can be an “agent of change”, instead of waiting for the system to change.”
Speaking at the Singapore Children’s Society conference. the former army general who rose to his ministerial position today via cronyism also chided Singaporeans for having a narrow definition of success:
“While it is natural for parents to want their children to excel in certain fields, it is important to note whether the child will be happy in that field. We need to widen the definitions of success. Success should not be measured by a single yardstick, he said. Neither should it be only defined by what a person can achieve for himself. Rather, how he contributes to the wider society should count too. In fact, having a diversity of talents and skills will help society stay resilient and weather challenges.”
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PAP: Living in a world of disconnect?
Sense And Nonsense - by Tan Bah Bah
November 26, 2017
The government tried to do a Sevilla-plus on their critics this week. Earlier this week, Sevilla came back from 0-3 down against Liverpool in their Champions League match at the end of the first half to score three goals in the second to equalise 3-3. Fantastic never-say-die performance.
PM Lee Hsien Loong attempted to outperform the Spanish team at the PAP convention last Sunday. At least three down, courtesy of the malfunctioning MRT and its equally malfunctioning management teams – endless delays, Bishan flood and Joo Koon crash (grammar note: when a moving object smashes into a stationary object that act is defined as a crash and not a collision which involves two or more moving objects) – he framed commuter frustrations in a comforting big picture context.
He said: “We have a first-class transport system in Singapore…I was just reading an article which had a long table of the different cities and the reliability of the transport system. It went from New York, where 65 per cent of the trains are on time. All the way through other countries in the developed countries and the developing world, and the top cities in the world for reliability of their trains are four —Hong Kong, Taipei, Los Angeles and Singapore. 99 plus per cent on time.
…we must see our problems in perspective.”
And, should we go along with the narrative that we have one of the best mass rapid transit systems in the world, we are, of course, expected to endure further delays, shutdowns and shorter operation hours in celebration of that pantomime of disconnect.
Singaporeans have indeed put up with considerable inconvenience in the past, particularly when our roads were being dug up, with the attendant road diversions and traffic snarls, to develop the MRT. We do remember the massive jams and bus reroutings. Some of the public works even spanned a decade or longer. Many babies had been born and have grown up to be teens by the time the works were completed. Examples: Paya Lebar/Sims Avenue/Geylang Road junction, Chinatown and Old Airport Road. They understand all that.
But, having made these necessary past sacrifices in expectation of a decent MRT system, they have been let down by a system which has been thoroughly compromised by incompetence, poor management decisions and a disappointing refusal by the top to accept responsibility.
Somehow, such reassurances about seeing “light at the end of the tunnel as delays will go away once the signaling upgraded is completed, perhaps in a year’s time” seem out of touch with reality and the ground reactions of suffering commuters right now. They are no more comforted by these as when Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan told them in July that the MRT was “three times more reliable” than in 2015, conveniently excluding the delays in the North-South Line because of the signalling tests. And we know what happened after he made those remarks. Flood, crash, lightning, delays and shutdowns.
Perhaps satisfied that he has the full measure of Singaporeans’ ability to absorb self-punishment, PM Lee then went on to offer his “second half” vision for the rest of his government’s term. He plodded through well-trodden ground – our fabulous foreign relations, the economy and party-labour movement symbiosis, among others. In the midst of it all, he threw a grenade, almost quietly.
“Heng Swee Keat was right when he said raising taxes was not a matter of whether but when,” he said. Singapore has to raise taxes as government spending on investments and social services grows.
In his Budget statement earlier this year, Finance Minister Heng spoke of the need to raise taxes to match rising spending on healthcare and infrastructure.
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Ministry of Finance seeks public feedback on Budget 2018
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat at Parliament House on Monday (Feb 20) to deliver Budget 2017. (Photo: Xabryna Kek)
03 Dec 2017 03:06PM (Updated: 03 Dec 2017 03:14PM)
SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Finance (MOF) is seeking views and suggestions from Singaporeans in preparation for Budget 2018, it said in a press release on Sunday (Dec 3).
The public can provide their views through several channels.
From Monday (Dec 4), Singaporeans can visit the REACH Pre-Budget 2018 microsite to submit their views, MOF said.
“Individuals, households, and businesses are welcome to provide feedback on issues such as how our businesses can compete, how our people can seize new opportunities, how we care for and support one another, and how we plan for future needs,” MOF added.
During the feedback period, REACH will organise nine Pre-Budget 2018 Listening Points across Singapore for the public to give their views in person.
Locations of these Listening Points can be found on REACH’s website.
In addition, REACH will organise a Pre-Budget 2018 Conversation with members of the public on Tuesday, Dec 5, 2017.
The Conversation will be hosted by Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Ministry of Finance, and Mr Sam Tan, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Manpower and REACH chairman.
A Pre-Budget Facebook Q&A session has been planned for Jan 4, 2018 from 8.00pm to 9.00pm where members of the public can join in the chat hosted on the REACH Facebook page.
In addition, Singaporeans can give their views and suggestions for the coming Budget 2018 online, including through the Singapore Budget Website, the REACH Discussion Forum, the REACH Budget microsite and the REACH Singapore Facebook page.
Read more at
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...t-2018-9464508
Another big wayang show from PAP government . Really asking us for feedback ??? Of course we will tell them not to increase taxes that will burden your voters .
Ministry of Finance set up fake feedback exercise on 2018 Budget
December 3, 2017
In a press release yesterday (Dec 3), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced the setting up of a fake feedback exercise on next year’s Budget. According to MOF, Singaporeans can submit feedback on “how we plan for future needs” – hinting Singaporeans to suggest tax increases for the government:
“The MOF hope to gather views and suggestions from individuals, households and businesses on issues including “how our businesses can compete, how our people can seize new opportunities, how we care for and support one another, and how we plan for future needs.”
Singaporeans can provide their suggestions on various platforms over six weeks, however, their feedback will never be considered. Suggestions like “do not increase the GST”, “reduce the Ministerial million dollar salaries” or “one Minister for one Ministry” will not be entertained.
The Singapore dictatorship is bent on increasing the GST tax and making Singaporeans pay more for the increased infrastructure needs for a 6.9 million population.
A major spender of next year’s Budget will be public transport, where billions of taxes has always been channelled to subsidise the profitable duopoly companies, SMRT and SBS Transit.
The feedback exercise is meant as a publicity campaign to improve the reputation for the dictatorship, to appease the population’s demand for greater say in politics. Submissions will not be reviewed nor considered, and simply ended up straight into the trash bin. In fact, every year’s feedback exercise there is no mention of a single policy influenced by feedback contribution.
As Singaporeans are denied opposition representation (30% of the electoral popular votes are represented by only 6% opposition presence in Parliament), many feel disenfranchised and unrepresented. Following Lee Kuan Yew’s death, many ruling party voters also felt cheated when the country did not prosper as promised.
continue reading here :
https://statestimesreview.com/2017/1...n-2018-budget/
US cut taxes . Here in Singapore the PAP government want to increase taxes . A reminder that the Singapore government has got a huge amount of reserves that can last for a long time . Why need to increase taxes ? Please provide your expenditure report for the public to see .
How much fiscal sustainability is enough?
Published on 2017-12-06 by The Online Citizen
by Chris Kuan
“Fiscal sustainability key to achieving country’s goals: Heng Swee Keat” reports Today Online, we should expect more of this one-sided narrative given that taxes will go up, its only a matter of time.
Minister of Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat talks about that loaded sovereign finance term - fiscal sustainability. Same old same old of having the firepower to deal with an attack on the Singapore dollar, passing wealth to the next generation, the usual tired clichés of government narrative plus a new one, risks to traditional revenue sources from disruptions and changing business models.
Repeat - fiscal sustainability can be achieved without having reserves, without having to generate budget surpluses, without having to be stingy in social spending.
Lo and behold, it can even be achieved with budget deficits so long as these are not excessive. And once more, Singapore has fiscal space equal to 190% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) according the Moody research used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 10th highest in the world without taking reserves into consideration.
This is no normal fiscal sustainability the government has always implemented – it is an extreme version that leads it to consider first, foremost and only tax hikes rather than seeking alternative means and asking crucial questions of sovereign finance – how much reserve is enough, when do the nation need to slow down the reserves accumulation.
Make no mistake, fiscal sustainability have costs, predominantly social ones. The more extreme , the higher the costs. High income inequality even after tax and social transfers, high individual portion of healthcare costs, low retirement adequacy, high “public housing” prices.
It is the cause of the reluctance to provide unemployment benefits in face of greater volatility in the global economy that leads to Growth Maximisation that generate lots of jobs, never mind what kind, never mind it also require the influx of foreign workers and never mind the dampening effect on wages. Now the long run consequences have caught up.
All of this begs many questions. E.g. why should there be an attack on the Singapore dollar that so much reserves are required to defend if the government did not messed almightily to begin with? How much protection does the government needs or how high the over-insurance must be in order to face risks?
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Fees for LTA vehicle services to increase from Dec 20
Motorists enter the financial district area in Singapore on Oct 24, 2017.
PUBLISHED 5 HOURS AGO
Christopher Tan Senior Transport Correspondent
Vehicle buyers will have to pay more for a wide range of administrative services from Dec 20.
This comes on the back of increases to a wide range of fees levied by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for services ranging from vehicle registration to vehicle transfer.
In a letter sent out to motor traders last Friday, the authority said the change was because of the “rising costs of providing these services”. These, it said, included things such as the setting up and maintenance of IT systems as well as manpower cost.
Fees with the biggest increases include the registration fee, which will go from $140 now to $220, a 57 per cent hike, and the transfer fee (which is levied when a vehicle’s ownership changes), which will more than double from $11 to $25.
The fee to lay up a vehicle (for extended periods when it is not used) will more than treble from $5.35 to $17.12.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, an LTA spokesman said the changes arose from “a review of fees that are collected for administering vehicle services”.
She said: “From Dec 20, 24 out of 61 existing fees will be adjusted upwards, as these fees have largely remained unchanged for more than 10 years.”
Motor traders were surprised by the move.
“These fees are small when compared with things like the COE (certificate of entitlement) and ARF (additional registration fee), so I don’t understand why they have to be raised,” said Mr Nicholas Wong, general manager of Honda agent Kah Motor.
Mr Neo Nam Heng, chairman of diversified motor group Prime, said he would refrain from commenting on tax revenue issues, but pointed out that the “cost will be passed on to consumers”.
Motorist Gay Eng Joo, 46, said: “Cars are big-ticket items here, so I don’t think these changes will make much of a difference to consumers.”
Mr Gay, an engineer, said other schemes such as the new Vehicle Emissions Scheme (VES), which starts next month, will have a “bigger bite”.
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http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...se-from-dec-20
Greedy white pigs . Those businesses who need vehicles would be hard hit .
AGC: No such thing as privacy on Facebook
December 9, 2017
The Singapore Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) yesterday (Dec 9) defended the government’s lawsuit against Li Shengwu declaring that his private post “does not entitle him to privacy”:
“Mr Li Shengwu, 32, may have put his Facebook privacy settings on ‘friends only’ when he published a post that allegedly attacked the independence of Singapore’s judiciary, but this does not entitle him to claim privacy.”
The nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is currently being sued by the Singapore government for his private Facebook post lamenting that the government is “very litigious” and the judiciary is “pliant” to the dictatorship. Li Shengwu’s Facebook page is however spied upon by the dictatorship regime, and a government spy took a screenshot of the “offending” post and handed it over to the AGC to press charges.
The AGC insisted that it does not matter whether Li Shengwu has intentions to undermine public confidence and his effort to make amendments after shows he is guilty:
“For the case to proceed, it is not necessary to prove Mr Li intended to undermine public confidence, only that he intentionally published the post. This intentional act was indisputable. Mr Li subsequently amended parts of it, but AGC said his amendment of the post to clarify its meaning showed he was aware the phrase “pliant court system” was open to being understood at face value. It could be taken to mean the Singapore judiciary is easily influenced.”
The AGC also told the Singapore Courts that any material attacking the Singapore government is illegal so long as it “can be accessed in Singapore”:
“It is irrelevant whether the material was posted outside Singapore. Since it can be accessed in Singapore, its publication occurs in Singapore.”
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Higher tuition fees for students joining polytechnics and ITE in 2018
11 Dec 2017 04:10PM (Updated: 11 Dec 2017 04:56PM)
SINGAPORE: Students planning to enrol in the polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) next year will see tuition fees go up.
The increase in tuition fees will be larger for permanent residents and foreigners, compared with Singapore citizens, the schools announced on their websites on Monday (Dec 11).
These revised fees apply only to the new batch of students joining the schools in the 2018 academic year. The polytechnics’ term starts in April, while ITE has two intakes in January and April.
Singapore citizens looking to join the five polytechnics next year will pay an annual tuition fee of S$2,800, up from S$2,700 last year.
For permanent residents (PRs), fees will go up to S$5,600 from S$5,400, while tuition fees for international students will go up to S$10,000 from S$9,600.
The five polytechnics schools include Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic.
For the ITE, fees for full-time Nitec courses will go up to S$406 for Singaporeans, while PRs will pay S$5,023 and international students will foot S$13,482. These include fees such as the registration fee, supplementary fees and examination fees.
Singaporean citizen students who joined ITE this year paid S$386 in school fees, while PRs paid S$4,719 and international students paid S$12,582.
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Heng Swee Keat: Most important thing in S’pore’s political system is to win trust of the people
We will likely hear from Heng more often in the coming year.
By Chan Cheow Pong | 15 hours
For those who have been following our 4G Ministers closely, you may have noticed that future Prime Minister front-runner Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has been popping up in the news quite frequently in recent times talking about big picture stuff.
Sharing his big picture views
Slightly more than two weeks ago, Heng who was visiting China, gave a rare speech on foreign relations in which he provided a road map for the future of Singapore-China relations.
Calling it three principles, five potential areas, and one vision, he advocated strengthening our evolving relations in the areas of trade, innovation, finance, people-to-people ties and environmental sustainability.
Just a week ago, he spoke at the The Straits Times Global Outlook Forum, where he tackled the topic of what Singapore needs to have as a nation to secure our future.
Clarity of values, good governance and leadership were the three ingredients he mentioned as critical to how Singapore should approach the future as an adaptive challenge.
continue reading here :
https://mothership.sg/2017/12/heng-s...of-the-people/
Really how can we trust the government ? A good government strives to make its citizens life better and not make it harder . A good government must be willing to accept alternative views and not to silent its critics .
Complaints of noise from empty flat: Some issues defy explanation, Tan Chuan-Jin says
PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO
Lydia Lam
SINGAPORE - When he heard about a resident’s complaint over the sound of chairs being dragged from a flat above, Marine Parade GRC MP Tan Chuan-Jin thought it was a neighbourly dispute.
However, he found out that there was no one living in the said flat, as the former occupant had died and the flat was empty.
Mr Tan, who is also Speaker of Parliament, wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday night (Dec 12) that he encounters issues that may be beyond an MP’s ability from time to time.
“And I mean way beyond,” he quipped.
Mr Tan, 48, told The Straits Times on Wednesday that as an MP, he receives feedback from time to time that seems to “defy conventional explanation”.
Some sounds that are commonly heard in Housing Board flats include the sound of marbles dropping or rolling, furniture shifting and footsteps.
“There are the usual explanations such as expansion and contraction of pipes and sounds transmitted from other units,” he said. “Even cats mewing can sound like babies crying.”
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