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

Young Singaporeans Losing Their Patience with Arrogance and Corruptions

Former chief editor of propaganda state media Straits Times, Han Fook Kwang, wrote an article last Sunday (Aug 26) revealing that more young Singaporeans now have no respect for the PAP million dollar ministers.

Han Fook Kwang, currently an “editor-at-large” with Straits Times, recounted an opinion piece from a doctor who wrote in to the government newspaper. According to the doctor, poor Singaporeans facing problems paying medical bills have become increasingly vocal against the S$53 million PAP government:

“Earlier this month, a doctor, who said he meets people from different backgrounds in his clinic, wrote to this newspaper that the feedback he gets from them about the Government has been “far from encouraging”. “It is further aggravated when ordinary folk who are struggling to make ends meet conclude that those in authority lack empathy and that those making policies do not understand the sentiments on the ground,” he said.”

The former propaganda writer wrote that the doctor was also taken aback by the younger generation of Singaporeans who openly disrespect and swear vulgarities at the ruling party leaders:

“I am also concerned about the responses of the younger generation, who pepper their comments with vulgarities, showing little respect for the office of those who are given the responsibility to govern.”

Han Fook Kwang then called for the government to ramp up on propaganda effort to convince the public of their legalised corruptions like the racist Presidential Election and the GST increase:

“I would say it has to do a much better job explaining to and persuading the people. I do not think it has done so convincingly enough. The souring ground needs to be addressed because it colours people’s perception of the Government and how they react to the next contentious issue. This is what happened over the ministerial salary controversy. It lit a fire because the ground was already testy.”

Vote Them Out

Just simply vote them out

This is an interesting perception from a young Singaporean.

*Winds* *of* *change*

How can we make our country great again?

- A Singaporeans' point of view. You may not agree, but as a citizen of Singapore by birth, I have every right to feel what I feel and every right to desire a need for these changes or/and answers.

If a citizen (by birth) of a country is NOT allowed to ask or question the way or how his/her country is governed then who else has this right and what kind of a democracy is this? Everyone has the right to address the statements and issues I have written below, and may wish to do so or may not. It is entirely up to the individual who reads this to agree or disagree with my post. This is what I feel and NOT something I wish to force unto others-

Dear Prime Minister & People's Action Party,
honestly to me, in the past decade or so,
you have done a *SHITTY* job.

A whole bunch of us Singaporeans have recently woken up, including me. Especially after the recent elections held by our neighbours and what they faced under their previous ruler / government and the events that followed after his / its downfall.

Below are certain questions I have the NEED & deserve answers to, being a citizen of Singapore..

'' ...to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity
and progress for our nation..." - sound familiar? We should abide by this right? Well here goes.

*********************

Questions :

1. ( *Public* *Housing* )

As someone in the field of construction & building materials, I would conclude that it only costs about 30% - 40% of the amount HDB charges young newlyweds, single parents and the elderly for a newly built BTO house, to actually build one. If I am wrong, then I am sure, the cost is even lower then that. So why is, '' *affordable* public *housing* ', *not* being made *affordable* to us Singaporeans?

$260,000 for a newly built 1rm 1hall BTO unit in Kim Tian with No flooring, No lighting, No carpentry, No paint, No aircons, No solid walls, is exuberant. On top of that, the concessionary interest rates for a HDB loan is 2.6% per annum. A minimum of $260,000 + (2.6% x $260,000) x 20yrs is then forced down the throat of this citizen of yours who can only afford a 1rm 1hall prison cell in the outskirts of town.

You may however entice him with some grants. An average of up to $40,000 as you see fit, but the end figure wud still be $220,000 + (2.6% x $220,000) x 20yrs = $334,400

A nett profit of 52% on this 'affordable public housing' ON TOP of the exuberant figure it was sold at. What kind of profits spurn from a 5 room BTO, an EC or DBSS unit? I am afraid to do calculations on these. I might cough out a fur-ball. In 20 yrs time, how are our children going to afford these homes??

--------------------------------

2. *99yrs* *Tenure*

Please be truthful, clear and transparent on the big question at hand. What happens to young and old Singaporean HDB home owners once their HDB lease is up. In most areas now, that will be in about 70yrs. What happens to that million dollar Bishan HDB apartment when 99yrs comes? All that money down the drain? All that CPF used up? What happens to your citizens whom you had enticed with the dream of owning a home / property to?

The word here is *DREAM* isn't it?

--------------------------------

3. ( *Town* *Council* )

The respective TCs enforces onto each household an average of btwn $64 - $104 a month. ENFORCES.

Apart from any HDB upgrading which is most probably contracted to the LOWEST bidder of which HDB home owners have to pay a 'subsidised fee' for, what is the purpose of the S&CC fee? Being once a HDB home owner, the only thing I can derive at is the washing of corridors once or twice a month and thats it. Please dont tell me about painting of old HDB blocks and things like that. You should be ashamed of yourself to admit that one of the reasons for this fee is for a fresh coat of paint every 10yrs or so.

There is an average of 100 homes in a normal sized HDB flat.

2 to 3 foreign workers can wash up to 10 blocks of flats a month. (according to a non documented interview I had with one such foreign worker)

An average of $80 x (100 homes) x 10 blocks collected each month = $80,000 per 10 normal sized HDB blocks.

Do you pay these 3 foreign workers $25,000 a month each?

If so, can some of my Doctor and Engineer friends who dont get this kinda salary apply for this job?

-----------------------------

4. ( *COE* , *Road* *Tax* , *ERP* )

*COE* - You and only you control how many vehicles are allowed to come into this country and be sold on open market. There is no need to project a fantasy onto your citizens that we control this.

Moreover, no one in their right sound mind would bid $100,000 for a *phantom* *piece* *of* *certificate* to buy a $20,000 car. This is obviously a source of revenue for you made to seem legit. Its *BS* . No other country has this, and if they did, its wrong.

*Road* *Tax* -

Frances Ng

Quick 3-minute summary of a Singaporean life

Let me put it this way to Singaporeans.

You are born.

You study.

You serve ns and are put under a 10 years reservist and ippt cycle that can stretch into your 40s while you have to juggle family and work commitments at the same time.

After ns you come out to work and fall in love,married and start up a family.

Now the nightmare and maths truly begin.

A wedding cost a lot so most Singaporeans married in their late 20s, mid 30s or even later.

Now we come to the house.
Upon successfully balloting for the house one need to wait at least 3 years for it or you can buy from open market or private developers where price will be even much higher.

Once you get your keys your entire cpf oa will be depleted totally and the rest of the mortage balance will be paid by your monthly cpf every month for a maximum of up to over a decade or 25 years max.

During this time every month of your cpf will not be able to save and accumulate cpf interests because you need to use it to settle house loan.

So 25 years finally finish and your house is fully paid up but by then you will be 55 or into your 60s already.

You want to rest and retire but you can't because your cpf oa account is empty and cpf minimum sum of 161k is set in place to prevent you from cashing out your cpf in full to use to finance your retirement.

So in your 50s or 60s you still need to work until you die or at least for another 10 to 20 years in order to build up your cpf oa account.

By the time you can really rest you will be in your 70s or 80s already.

Most would have met their maker by that age already. Lol How to look forward to retirement bliss?

Also the health could be failing or no one is willing to employ the elderly Singaporeans and what are they going to survive on?

In the end their cpf medisave accounts got wipe out and they either rent their flats out to sustain themselves or sell back their flats and lease to downgrade in order to survive in their dying years.

*This is basically the life story of a common Singaporean.*

And don't forget in the middle of all these one still need to raise up kids and take care of sickly ageing parents and in laws too.

*If anyone can still say Singaporeans are living a blessed life then I clap for you.*

Five Characteristics of a Compulsive Liar

Below is an expert's analysis of a compulsive liar. We take the article and do a match up with the behaviour of our supreme leader, and BINGO, they match perfectly, like a completed jigsaw puzzle.


By Ross Bonander, Tue, October 08, 2013

Compulsive liars, sometimes called habitual liars, will lie for no reason at all, without any motive whatsoever. They tend to lie without premeditation, meaning they are inventing their lie on the spot.

This kind of compulsive behavior is generally considered to be along the obsessive-compulsive spectrum, specifically an impulse control disorder.

Since they are not regarded as skilled liars and since they often improvise, they don't tend to get any better at lying over time, leaving them exposed to a number of noticeable characteristics.

Unnecessary Explanations
Compulsive liars often expand upon answers to questions when there is no reason to do so, adding otherwise pointless detail and other non-sequitars. This is one form of avoiding having to answer a direct question—by expounding on aspects that have no bearing on the matter at hand.

Rapid Subject Changes
Compulsive liars don't always ramble out long and unnecessary answers to questions or descriptions of activities. Sometimes their answers are short and they move ahead to change the topic, often abruptly. It is one way to put into concrete a lie and imagine that the lie has been accepted as truth.

Telltale Body Language
Although a compulsive liar may be able to look you square in the eye and lie, ultimately most prefer to avoid too much eye contact—a trait that many are unaware of. Furthermore, compulsive liars may unconsciously seek to misdirect attention by behaving erratically, in a shifty manner by seeming to move items around on a table or seek to put some distance between themselves and the person they are speaking with.

Inability to Keep One's Story Straight
As any cop knows, the problem with lying is that you can easily forget your old lie and tell a new one in its place. The end result is a string of different lies recounting the same event told to different people. Compulsive liars may do this out of convenience or they may be working towards the best version of the lie. They tend to do so without premeditation.

A Readiness to Be Defensive

When confronted with a lie, compulsive liars may choose to become highly defensive (or they may respond defensively because they are being challenged). Liars may do so to buy time and find a way out of the situation, or they may be trying to inflict guilt upon the accuser, as in, how dare they accuse you of lying when all you've ever done for that person is be a good friend. Defensiveness, coupled with misdirection, is a hallmark of compulsive lying.

The Biggest Robbery in Singapore

Victim - Sporeans

Weapon - Care Shield

Place - Spore

Case -

Initially a response to community for help to the invalid. Gahmen came up with Elder Shield insurance where by paying a premium u will b insured for being a total invalid. I.e. u must hv 3 of these 5  invalid actions. These 5 are, cannot eat on yr own, cannot go to toilet on yr own, cannot walk, cannot move to the bed on yr own n cannot bathe on yr own. Basically saying nearly dead. 

For Elder Shield u can opt out of it n do not need to pay the premium. This insurance were ran by three private insurance cos.

Gahmen found out that the private insurance were making huge profit on it. They collected $2.8 billion in premium n only paid out 100 million in claims. Therefore a profit of 99.6%.

This is understandable. How many people do u know in yr whole life that cannot walk, cannot eat n cannot go to toilet on their own  ? Very very little or none at all.

The robbery happened when Gahmen say this insurance is now compulsory for everyone in Spore. And it will start 10 years earlier at 30 yrs old and it will b run by the gahmen herself. They will collect approx avr $500 per person per year. This will work out to approx $ 1.5 billion income n a profit of $1.49 billion every year. Premiums will go up as the years roll by n more n more money will go to Gahmen for doing nothing. When u r half dead, Gahmen will give u $600 n tell u to look after yrself or simply FO.

As Sporeans has no choice but to accede to Gahmen demands, this case is classified as Highway Robbery.