Greed & Legalised Corruption Driving up Electricity Tariffs

Temasek Holdings-owned monopoly power supplier SP Group yesterday (Sep 29) announced that the increase for the next three months from Oct to Dec will be 2.1%. This makes up a cumulated total of 18.8% for the year of 2018.

At Dec 2017, the electricity tariff was rated at 20.3 cents/kwh, but it is now increased 18.8% to 24.13 cents/kwh.

In 2017, SP Group posted a S$948 million net profit. With the latest increase, the Temasek Holdings-owned subsidiary is expected to cross the billion dollar profit mark and boost after-tax profit by a further S$178 million.

This is on top of a 8.7% increase in gas tariff and a 30% increase in water prices.

Corruption and nepotism remains the primary cause behind the exorbitant hike in energy prices, despite falling oil and natural gas prices. Approving the electricity tariff raised is the Energy Market Authority (EMA), whose Chairman Ng How Yue is the husband of PAP MP Tin Pei Ling.

Ng How Yue was Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s former Private Principal Secretary, and he saw four promotions in five straight years after his wife Tin Pei Ling won the MacPherson constituency.

One Million Singaporeans want to leave Singapore within 5 years

1 million citizens want to leave Singapore and leave within 5 years! ! !

Foreigners want to stay but can't stay, young people in Singapore want to leave? What irony?

Singapore, a beautiful and modern "garden city" , it has a clean and honest government, a harmonious and safe living environment, the first education level in Asia, beautiful and pleasant green facilities, convenient public support services... it is the place where tens of thousands of people dream of making it their home, Net Red Nas even called it a near-perfect place, an almost perfect country, living here is happiness found.

We all try our best to stay in Singapore. If we are allowed entry we will not go anywhere else , and we even worry that we will be unable to stay. However, I never expected that in 2016, the Singapore Policy Research Institute spent a lot of time conducting a survey for nearly three months. It interviewed 2013 nationals between the ages of 19 and 30.

The results turned out to be about One out of every three young Singaporeans is considering immigrating to another country in the next five years. Only one-fifth of the respondents admit that they often thought : “ Hey, don’t go to another country to settle down. ” Thoughts!

According to a few days ago released population briefing display, the current total resident population of Singapore citizens and PR is combined 3.99 million or so people, that is to say, as many as one million or so locals wanted to leave Singapore in Singapore within five years! ! !

Too many foreigners want to stay in Singapore but it is difficult to get PR and citizens, but local young people want to "escape from Singapore ". People outside want to come in. People inside want to go out, why does Singapore become such abesieged city? "What?"

Why do you want to go?

Speaking of why you want to go, young people in Singapore have a lot to say.

It can be seen that the green part is the number of migrants. In fact, it is far less than the local citizens and the number of PR. However, more than half of the young people in Singapore believe that the number of migrants in Singapore is now too much! They have greatly weakened Singapore's social cohesion!

Young people in Singapore also feel that foreign talents are only using Singapore's resources to regard Singapore as a “ stepping stone ” for their development in other developed countries !

Moreover, due to the presence of these outsiders, Singapore, a small island country, seems to be more crowded , and the morning and evening peaks are sardines on the subway!

A long, troublesome team at the hawker center during meals...

The local people are sick and can't get out of bed in the hospital...

Living in such a crowded environment, andfierce competition with foreign talents in the work , think it is terrible, it is better to slip.

Among the respondents, dissatisfied like this, there are too many foreigners in Singapore, and the proportion of Singaporeans who want to immigrate abroad is55.9% so high!

In addition, local young people who want to “escape from Singapore” also said:

“The cost of living in Singapore is too high. I don’t want to tie my children and grandchildren to a small country where an ordinary Japanese car would cost $130,000.”

"I am not optimistic about Singapore'seconomic development . In fact, there is not much national pride. I only think that Singapore has no freedom of speech. Even the assembly and protests are not allowed. It will be locked up in disorder!"

“A lot of Singaporeans have realized that they are locked up in a bird cage. I want to immigrate to a country with a larger living cost and a better living space .”

"Singaporeans are too stingy , and there is no way to get along with them, what should care about."

"The law and order is good, there is no way to represent everything..." 

So, where do these people want to leave Singapore and go?

Where do Singaporeans want to go, where do they want to go?

Australia and New Zealand are at the forefront of immigrant destinations that young people yearn for.

Young people in Singapore may have wild horses in their hearts, and Singapore’s small land cannot accommodate their dreams, so they will yearn for the vast land of 7,682,300 square kilometers in Australia! Among the immigrant destinations that Singaporeans yearn for, 35.6% of those who want to immigrate to Australia are ranked first among immigrant destinations.

It is also noteworthy that in the 2010 survey, New Zealand was still a destination for uninvited immigrants, but in 2016 it was ranked second in the country that Singaporeans most want to immigrate, accounting for 11.1% of the population. New Zealand has a mild climate and a low unemployment rate. Compared with the competitive Singapore, the pace of life is slower, which may be an important reason for attracting young immigrants from Singapore...

In addition, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Switzerland, and Malaysia are also on the list of places where Singaporeans want to immigrate.

Why do they want to go but they have not left?

The high cost of immigration, so many young people want to immigrate the "dream" can only be a dream, after all, is to want immigrants to go abroad to live a good life, can not go all the way! On the other hand, many young people in Singapore, even if they are allowed to immigrate on economic conditions, can goeconomically , but they ca n't go emotionally !

Because this year's Singapore Population Briefing shows that Singapore faces a severe population crisis and an aging population. At present, Singapore's elderly population support ratio is 1:4.2 , that is, every 65-year-old or older, 4.2 people need20 to 64. The aged Singaporeans came to take care of them.

Compared with the 2010 survey, “having family members in Singapore” has become the leading reason why Chinese people are rooted in Singapore. "Parents are, not far away," and are deeply rooted in the blood of many Chinese.

Singapore's public health and safety is also an important reason to make Singaporeans can not do without. Many countries are now populist, tribal, and xenophobic, which makes many people say that they must immigrate to Singaporeans in other countries within five years, and they are afraid that they will be eager to go abroad for a "rounder moon". Life, a more free living environment, a higher social status went overseas, but in the end, it was a lifetime of a small red book that was dreamed of by many people, but it was a lifetime in an unfamiliar and incompetent country. outsider……

Think about it this way, the person who wanted to leave, and silently stayed.

I want to stay, but I can’t stay...

One million Singaporeans often want to escape from Singapore, but nearly two million people say: We want to stay in Singapore, but we can't stay...

This year the population briefing display, hold work permits, student, dependent permit non-resident population of1,644,400 people , more than 1,646,500 people in 2017 to reduce the 2100 people. The rigorous immigration and foreign labor policies have not only reduced the number of people holding work permits in Singapore , even the number of permanent residents (PR) in Singapore has decreased from 526,600 last year to 522,300. Many PR After the expiration of the 5-year Re-entry permit, the continuous signing cannot be successful and can only leave Singapore with disappointment...

Two million people who want to stay in Singapore say: Singaporeans should not be excluded!

If Singapore is to achieve about 2.5% annual economic growth, it must increase its population to 6.3 million to 6.7 million by2030 . And in a serious aging problem, reduce the fertility of Singapore society, entering negative population growth pressures , it is now almost a million people to fill the vacancies required, only the top of the native population! It’s not easy to stay in Singapore. If you want to accept the strong xenophobia of local people, it’s really “not worthwhile”.

According to statistics, the mortality rate of Singapore has increased in the past decade. The number of deaths has increased from 16,200 in 2008 to 19,800 last year. The number of deaths has risen from 15,500 in 2008 to last year. According to the trend of 19,100 people , the death toll of citizens may exceed the number of citizens born in the mid-2030s, and Singapore will officially enter a period of negative population growth !

Where will the migrant population and Singaporean locals go ? How can we achieve a balanced and harmonious situation in Singapore and jointly build Singapore into a beautiful country that is more hopeful, perhaps a question that everyone in Singapore should think about.

Article is Courtesy of Weibo, China.

Booby Trap in CPF Nomination Scheme ?

For your info and action...regarding your CPF money.

I believe many of us are not aware of this as I don’t remember receiving any letter(s) from CPF Board on this. I have just check with CPF Board website & this is the truth. So I  suggest all of you to review your CPF nomination(s)  & amend it to cash distribution.

Everybody please note that when we kick the bucket, all our balanced CPF money will not be automatically deposited into our nominated NOK bank account in CASH.

CPF board will instead send all your balanced CPF money to your nominated NOK CPF MEDISAVE ACCOUNT.

There is a separate form to be filled if cash or cheque is required.
*So better know this....* *Die die they don't give to Next Of Kin the CASH...But WILL PUT IN TO THEIR MEDISAVE ACCT... UNLESS U READ UP THE FINE LINES. WE NEED TO FILL UP ANOTHER FORM WHICH MANY ARE NOT AWARE OF THAT!!!!*
https://www.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Schemes/schemes/other-matters/cpf-nomination-scheme

Better go check if our nominations are cash ones

Please circulate to families, friend and colleagues.

But wait.....here is the government's reply to the above allegations.

Gov.sg clarified that there is "absolutely no basis" for this rumour and said CPF savings will be given to one's nominees in cash via cheque or GIRO by default.

"This is unless you have opted for a different type of CPF nomination," it said.

Gov.sg said in its post that the rumour is just a variation of a false claim that first surfaced in 2012 and was debunked then.

A CPF nomination gives CPF members the option to specify who will receive their CPF savings, and how much each nominee should receive, upon their death.

If a CPF nomination is not made, the member's CPF savings will be transferred to the Public Trustee's Office (PTO) for distribution to his or her family members under the Intestate Succession Act, or the Inheritance Certificate (for Muslims).

Why our Leaders continue to earn Heavenly Income and Pensions

While all you guys are focusing on the salary and bonuses, what you guys missed is that our dear gov had removed ALL pension scheme from Singapore BUT kept it only for themselves.

Apparently, all ministers of more than 2 terms will get Full Pension till death.

So you kick them out all you want, they will still be laughing all the way to the bank everyday till the end of their life.

I wasnt able to believe it when I was told about this, can someone please tell me I was wrong.

The implication is huge if this is true. More ministers are added to this Pension worthy list every year . The numbers getting higher. The burden on the nation is HUGE.

Can someone please do some research and let us know how much it cost us each month and year just for this very special group of people.

The high salary is bad enough.....the full pension even after they left office is most despicable..... I considered it robbing the nation, totally unjustifiable.

It is not about changing gov, its about changing this kind of policies that is damaging our country and dividing the people.

HDB Resale Crashed Nearly 20% After NDP Rally

Following Lee Hsien Loong’s confirmation that HDB housing will be worthless by the end of lease, the resale transactions of HDB resale flats responded with a reduction of 18.6% in the month of August. Only 2,076 units were sold in August, as compared to 2,550 units in July. According to some real estate agents, many potential HDB resale flat buyers pulled out from purchase on the last week of August following Lee Hsien Loong’s speech on Aug 21. The effect is expected to worsen in September as the first week saw similar disastrous sales reports.

The end of lease issue has hit many elderly Singaporeans hard, as many are relying on the sale of their decades-old home for retirement. Due to insufficiency of CPF payouts – that reach as low as S$100 a month for housewives and those who barely contributed to CPF, Singaporean retirees are heavily reliant on their sole asset for living maintenance. Elderly Singaporeans can be frequently seen working in low income manual labour jobs or half-begging selling tissue paper on the streets for a meal.

According to propaganda state media Straits Times, the ruling party will meet today (Sep 10) to discuss the depreciating value of HDB and the expected return of VERS (a watered-down version of en bloc sale SERS). PAP MPs in recent weeks have been heavily criticised by their own party supporters and grassroots leaders, with many demanding for the government to reverse its stance on HDB housing’s depreciation. Most Singaporeans are deeply aggrieved by the loss of inheritance wealth, and are now more vocal hitting out at the ruling party for stealing inter-generational wealth.

Desperately needing more CPF funds to fill GIC’s overseas investment losses, dictator Prime Minister Lee warned Singaporeans that they have been told at the time of purchase that they own only the lease of a HDB unit and that even with VERS, they will not be compensated market value. Lee Hsien Loong openly admitted that he needed more land to build new HDB flats for younger generations to buy in a 30-year mortgage.

The HDB lease issue has been damaging to the ruling party, and it is a fresh new wound after the 28% increase in GST and 30% in water price. Singaporeans saw their cost of living increasing by some 10% in the past year, following double digits increase in utility tariffs, carpark charges, public transport fares, airport taxes, mandatory CPF insurance premiums and a new mandatory CPF insurance called CareShield Life.

Despite the Prime Minister’s promising that the slew of tax increases would help the poor more, the reality is a reverse. According to official statistics, the number of poor on public assistance jumped 28% over the past 4 years, with elderly retirees being the most affected.

Alex

A Layman Response to the PM NDP Rally Speech

Dear PM Lee,

Gardens at the Airport. Medishield Life. “Affordable” HDB. Education “changes”. Each sillier than how you look in pink, and it all boils down to one trait of yours: Misplaced Priorities. You may have heard the wrong thing from the wrong person, but that doesn’t excuse you from making wrong proposals built on wrong fundamentals for Singapore. Let’s go through one by one to explain how have you compounded and worsen the existing state of affairs and the lives of 3 million Singaporeans.

1) Gardens at the Airport
Why are you doing this? We do not need more billion dollar playgrounds for foreigners. Gardens by the Bay cost $1.1 billion to build, $53 million a year to maintain [Source]. If your Project Jewel goes through, Singapore is bleeding at least $100 million every year just on maintenance alone. Have you gone out of your mind from losing too many by-elections? Why are you squandering Singaporeans’ money on billion dollar projects that serve no direct interests to Singaporeans? You could not even come up with ROI or statistical evidence in the form of tourist dollars or annual visits to these sites, and here you are happily pitching your very expensive garden to the average Singaporeans who have their bills to worry about. Also, didn’t you say you were ramping up infrastructures for a 6.9 million population [Source]? Why didn’t you use this money to build more housing, or are Singaporeans going to sleep in the airport? This proposal doesn’t solve the overcrowding problem, it worsens it.

2) Medishield Life
Universal insurance for Singaporeans is a good step in the right direction. But how much are you going to make us pay? I will reserve comments for now until I see your price list. And, if you are not going to declare the pooled Medishield fund amount to the public, how could we trust you with our money? You could be raising premiums as and when you like it, like how you always tinker with our CPF’s Minimum Sum and Withdrawal Age without public consultation [Source]. We had enough of you telling us “you cannot opt out”. Your CPF Life Annuity was like this [Source]. Why am I not allowed the choice to opt-out when you have no accountability and transparency to show of in your system? Compare yourself to the Australia Government [Source] who could detail how much withdrawals and deposits are made, how do you expect the average citizen to trust our money under your care? We are not naive PAP voters who take in every word you say. Before we part this topic, we have also not gone on to the worsening quality of healthcare in Singapore [Source], so could you please get your basics right first before introducing new ideas?

3) “Affordable” HDB
This is where I can safely conclude you are stupid. Take the 2 room flat for example, do you know how much is the initial deposit and how long will it take a $1000 earner to raise it? What is affordable when you have to take a 25 year debt? You are encouraging irresponsible parents to take up huge loans and pass on the debt over to their children. Playing with skewed statistics do not work on Singaporeans with less than half a brain. How much profit is the HDB earning through BTO flats after construction costs? What about the profit earned in interests from Singaporeans holding mortgage loans through HDB? You are right when you said you are a housing agent, because like one, your salary is funded partly through Buyer’s Stamp Duty and annual property taxes. And your monthly financial projections that concludes how “affordable” HDB is? That is amateurish; voters like me are simply aghast at your $4000-salary-for-4-rm-flat joke. You should either leave the job of telling incomplete truth to the Straits Times, or resign to be a full time stand-up comedian in US making jokes about China [Source].

4) Education “changes”
Ok so you changed the point system to a L1R5-like band system. So what? You reserved 40 seats for non-affiliated enrolment in top schools. You allow Normal Stream students to take the O levels. Is this Change or coins in your pockets? It is hard to understand how are these going to stamp out elitism and reduce stress on Singaporean students. Band-chasing is going to put less stress on students than mark-chasing? Going to school with non-elites will make children of your fellow PAP MPs and Ministers less elitist? When we talk about Education “changes”, nothing has been mentioned about the lack of university places and the uphill costs of tertiary education. Right when you are calling every foreigner holding a degree “talent”, you are doing nothing to help aspiring Singaporeans obtain their degrees, so please, cut the hypocrisy and keep your change.

Despite your ludicrous proposals, there are also many issues you conveniently swerved out of – foreigner population, cost of living, COE prices, public transport breakdowns, inadequacy for retirement, media control, widening income gap, increasing corruption cases, depressed salaries, unfair NS treatment, dipping standard of living resulting in growing unhappiness among the people. These are important and valid concerns raised not just yesterday, but umpteen times in nearly every feedback channel, and your apparent overlook shows that you do not care.

In all honesty, you should resign. Your incompetence and misplaced priorities will ruin Singaporeans. If your idea of a Singapore is a mix of little India, little China and little Philippines, please say so earlier so we Singaporeans could all make our emigration plans.

Deluded Singaporean
Alex Tan

Why the Current Leaders Are Mediocre

The present government must understand that Singaporeans of our fathers’ generation lived through a tumultuous time pre-independence. LKY dispensed bitter medicine and they accepted it. Why because our leaders went through the same hardship as them.

These were political leaders who did not come in on the merits of others. They fought in the hustings and came out tops. They worked the ground and knew the people’s sentiments and hardships. Look at how LKY punched the air when he shouted “Merdeka” in his rallies and you will know why the people followed him and the PAP.

I still remember Dr Goh Keng Swee going about in Mindef in 1973 dressed like any other civil servant. He was like one of us. Besides he loved mess games and an occasional tipple with his military officers.

I once watched E W Barker playing billiards in the SRC when I was schoolboy and saw how his friends clapped as pals of his (they were definitely not apple-polishers) when he landed a good shot. He played billiards like one of us.

I saw S Rajaratnam stand up and light his cigarette (yes you could smoke at banquets in those days) after LKY had left the banquet hall - a signal for the smokers to light up. These were people who fought in the trenches with our parents and grandparents’ generation. My generation caught them at the tail end when we hit the workforce.

LKY started the ball rolling when he emphasised placing scholars in the civil service and statutory boards. He wanted the best brains to head the various government ministries and agencies. There is nothing wrong with that but perhaps he did not realise that the road to heaven is not always filled with good intentions.

This is because graduating scholars had their careers mapped out for them and promotions came fast and easy for many. In the SAF, many did not have to go through the tough rigours like the rest of us. Although some of them were worth their weight in gold quite a few did not live up to expectations.

The standing joke was there were three classes of officers in the SAF – Farmers (non-graduates), Educated farmers (graduates) and Scholars (scholarship holders).

The sad part was many in the government only viewed scholars as the answer to right the wrongs in government organisations.

Many “Farmers” viewed ourselves as people who were necessary cogs to keep the wheels churning. In the SAF, worse was to come when we had some very mediocre Defence ministers who knew little about how to lead military organisations in a civilian capacity and who intensified the scholar progamme with great vigour.

The majority of SAF scholars were on a dual-track career and went on to head government boards and later became ministers. There is no doubt they are extremely bright. But sadly, many lacked the aptitude, EQ and spirit of our first-generation leaders, some of whom were also scholars in their own right.

They “progressed” into government leadership positions simply because they were anointed as the chosen few by some of their elders who also happen to be scholars. They did not come in by working the ground or a passion to serve but on the coattails of others.

People find it hard to stomach lectures from young untried and untested ministers who have not earned their spurs like our first-generation leaders.

Many in my generation took umbrage when despite the sentiments on the ground, through a quirk in the election process it was ordained that the only suitable President was the one that the ruling party found suitable. Many feel a political sleight of hand made the PAP favoured President a shoo-in for the post.

More hard knocks were in store when two ministers (one a relative newbie at that) started talking down to participants during the Select Committee Hearings on the government’s stand on what constituted fake news. The high-handed attitude of ministers during the hearings left a bitter taste in us as it showed an intolerance for dissenting or dissimilar views.

Senior Minister Goh flung cake in our face when he made a public statement that our Ministers should be paid more in salaries rather than less as we can’t afford to have mediocre people in government. His point of reference – people who earn more than S$1 million annually will probably not be mediocre. Which side of the moon did this man come from?

Our PM did not make matters any better when he tried his hand at being a financial advisor when with good intentions he dispensed advice on how to save your pennies at the National Day Rally..

I guess he missed the point on what the grumbles are about on the ground – the high cost of living and the fear of insufficient savings to see us through to our retirement years. The public consensus is many of our ministers with their humongous salaries cannot possibly understand the trails and tribulations of the ordinary man on the street.

The rumblings of the status of HDB public housing units also does not look like it is going to go away soon. Many who own HDB apartments are not convinced that they are true blue owners of the units unlike owners of private condominiums and apartments.

The jury is still out there on the legal entity of HDB units. The government can explain all it wants but could it be we are just arguing about semantics? After all isn’t the HDB a statutory Board who has the right to confiscate your unit if you don’t play by the rules even if it is a fully paid up unit?

Han Fook Kwang is right on the money when he asked if the ground is sour? You bet it is Fook Kwang and it is getting vinegary sour by the day. If the PAP keeps this up, it will spoil everything that the first-generation leaders have built up over more than four score and ten years ago.

By Gérard Ong
29 August 2018