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.
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.
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.
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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 5room BTO, an EC or DBSS unit? I am afraid to do calculations on these. I might cough out a fur-ball. In 20yrs time, how are our children going to afford these homes??
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 5room BTO, an EC or DBSS unit? I am afraid to do calculations on these. I might cough out a fur-ball. In 20yrs time, how are our children going to afford these homes??
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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 isnt it?
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 isnt it?
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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?
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?
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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, noone 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 - I will NOT contest on the Road tax issue. It seems fair. I myself pay a total of about $15,000 a year on road tax alone. Want a big car, want a big engine, wanna exert more fumes, then pay more, and we get better roads, get wider highways built. etc... Fine.
ERP - aka Every Road Pay
Please lah, another source of revenue made to seem legit. Dont even try to explain this one. We wont and will never buy into it.
In 20yrs time, how are our children going to afford owning cars to drive our grandkids in??
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, noone 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 - I will NOT contest on the Road tax issue. It seems fair. I myself pay a total of about $15,000 a year on road tax alone. Want a big car, want a big engine, wanna exert more fumes, then pay more, and we get better roads, get wider highways built. etc... Fine.
ERP - aka Every Road Pay
Please lah, another source of revenue made to seem legit. Dont even try to explain this one. We wont and will never buy into it.
In 20yrs time, how are our children going to afford owning cars to drive our grandkids in??
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5. GIC
According to the Criminal Procedure Code (Singapore)
Criminal breach of trust –
Criminal breach of trust is committed by a person who, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his or her own use that property, or dishonestly uses or disposes of that property in violation of any direction of law prescribing the mode in which such trust is to be discharged...
What did ALL Singaporeans agreed on or understood by when it comes to their monthly salary to be kept in a Central Provident Fund? I rest my case.
According to the Criminal Procedure Code (Singapore)
Criminal breach of trust –
Criminal breach of trust is committed by a person who, being in any manner entrusted with property, or with any dominion over property, dishonestly misappropriates or converts to his or her own use that property, or dishonestly uses or disposes of that property in violation of any direction of law prescribing the mode in which such trust is to be discharged...
What did ALL Singaporeans agreed on or understood by when it comes to their monthly salary to be kept in a Central Provident Fund? I rest my case.
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6. Rising Taxes & Utilities
Is our country really in debt? As some suggest to justify the rise in every form of tax?
You spend $40 billion in recent years on our infantry, Billions on Terminals 4 and 5. Billions on failed investments. And you think its ok to just make us pay for your shitty decisions?
Tsk Tsk Tsk...
Did we ask you to dip into our reserves and loose all this money or spend all this money freely? And if you say that we are in debt, who da fug did you borrow money from and why??
If we borrowed money from the banks, we ourselves have to pay for it. But why is it that when our government borrows money, we the citizens are in turn made to pay??
Can you also tell me, does any minister pay for any of the following? Property Tax, COE, Road Tax, Income tax?
If No, then WHY??
Is our country really in debt? As some suggest to justify the rise in every form of tax?
You spend $40 billion in recent years on our infantry, Billions on Terminals 4 and 5. Billions on failed investments. And you think its ok to just make us pay for your shitty decisions?
Tsk Tsk Tsk...
Did we ask you to dip into our reserves and loose all this money or spend all this money freely? And if you say that we are in debt, who da fug did you borrow money from and why??
If we borrowed money from the banks, we ourselves have to pay for it. But why is it that when our government borrows money, we the citizens are in turn made to pay??
Can you also tell me, does any minister pay for any of the following? Property Tax, COE, Road Tax, Income tax?
If No, then WHY??
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7. Key Positions
Why are retired army generals placed into the highest key positions in most government ministries?
Suka suka give your friends with no real experiences to run these agencies isit?
Why would the knowledge of digging trenches and organising water parades come in handy in the running of CPF, SMRT, FAS, MOE...etc etc.
Let them retire in peace lah n hire people that are worth the money!
Why are retired army generals placed into the highest key positions in most government ministries?
Suka suka give your friends with no real experiences to run these agencies isit?
Why would the knowledge of digging trenches and organising water parades come in handy in the running of CPF, SMRT, FAS, MOE...etc etc.
Let them retire in peace lah n hire people that are worth the money!
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There are seriously many many more issues that I have to be brought up but perhaps for another day. I do however have some advice for my government.
If you want to turn our hearts around then please look into the following :
1. Free Healthcare at Public hospitals.
Many countries have this so why cant we.
Raise income tax across the board.
Just 10% of an average working Singaporean salary would be sufficient. A 2 million workforce putting an average of $3000 a year in would generate $6 billion. If one out of 100 Singaporeans in our 5 million population needs up to $50,000 in medical relief a year, that makes only an average of 50,000 Singaporeans x $50,000 = $2.5 Billion. You still profit $3.5 billion.
Many countries have this so why cant we.
Raise income tax across the board.
Just 10% of an average working Singaporean salary would be sufficient. A 2 million workforce putting an average of $3000 a year in would generate $6 billion. If one out of 100 Singaporeans in our 5 million population needs up to $50,000 in medical relief a year, that makes only an average of 50,000 Singaporeans x $50,000 = $2.5 Billion. You still profit $3.5 billion.
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2. Abolish the COE system. Implement a new 'Fixed Priced' and affordable tax on new vehicles and vehicles with renewed life. Control and Release the number of vehicles allowed to be imported into Singapore and onto our roads against the number of vehicles scrapped or exported out. It is not difficult to do so. If one has to wait 6 months for a brand new $30,000 Honda, I am very sure, one has no qualms doing so.
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3. Demolish ALL ERP gantries. Sell the system to another corrupt country, use the money to upgrade our 25yr old train system.
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4. Shut down the GIC and cease all its activities. No one to be prosecuted. Let bygones be bygones.
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5. Monitor the profits of the HDB. Control 'Public Housing' prices. Make it affordable to your citizens again. A 30% decrease in selling price for newly built homes will be welcomed with open arms. From all the money that has been made from Public Housing, give a payout of between $20,000 - $50,000 to home owners for HDB units taken back after 99yrs.
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6. Stop spending exuberantly on the Army just to make your friends happy. We are not and most probably never be under threat from any nation to need such sophisticated and expensive war toys.
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7. Very subsidised education in our local universities, JCs and polytechnics to all Singaporeans who deserve em. As long as our kids have met the criteria and marks to enter these institutions after their secondary school, lighten the burden on these kids and their families. If you stop bringing in truckloads of foreigners into our schools, there will be space for our kids. Our kids do not have to go abroad. Keep your citizens inbound to get the best out of them. Raise the pricing per student at Primary and Secondary school levels by 50% if you have to. (Based on current rates)
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8. Do NOT even suggest a Terminal 6.
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9. Be a man of your word. Release our CPF back to us in FULL when we reach 55yrs of age. Not partial, not in instalments. FULL.
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10. Show of faith.
Let the citizens decide who our next Prime Minister is. Let us vote for a position that matters. I have been seeing reports all over social media lately saying that most Singaporeans would love to see the PM post be replaced by our current Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. According to unsubstantiated reports by Yahoo Singapore, he is the clear favourite of Singaporeans to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as Singapore’s next Prime Minister. How many Singaporeans did they survey this on? 5? 10? This is clearcut propaganda. If you tell us something many times over, many months or years ahead, we are most likely to vote in favour of your choice. I dont think so. Not this time. No matter how good the man is, he is still one of you. We need someone else.
Someone Non-PAP. We are tired of voting puppets.
Let the citizens decide who our next Prime Minister is. Let us vote for a position that matters. I have been seeing reports all over social media lately saying that most Singaporeans would love to see the PM post be replaced by our current Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. According to unsubstantiated reports by Yahoo Singapore, he is the clear favourite of Singaporeans to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as Singapore’s next Prime Minister. How many Singaporeans did they survey this on? 5? 10? This is clearcut propaganda. If you tell us something many times over, many months or years ahead, we are most likely to vote in favour of your choice. I dont think so. Not this time. No matter how good the man is, he is still one of you. We need someone else.
Someone Non-PAP. We are tired of voting puppets.
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I also wish to ask a question onto our law enforcers, judiciary staff, army, men in blue and basically all civil servants..
When you took this job and donned that uniform or position, did you do it to protect and serve your country and countrymen?
Or did u do it to protect your PM and government?
When you took this job and donned that uniform or position, did you do it to protect and serve your country and countrymen?
Or did u do it to protect your PM and government?
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Anyways,
my dearest Government, if you can bring back the good old days that Lee Kuan Yew and us had, a time where housing, transportation, healthcare and education was affordable, then we will continue to support, love and cherish you.
If you wish to continue with this blatant tyranny and communist like habit of urs, then I pray to GOD, u get kicked the Fug out at our next elections!!
my dearest Government, if you can bring back the good old days that Lee Kuan Yew and us had, a time where housing, transportation, healthcare and education was affordable, then we will continue to support, love and cherish you.
If you wish to continue with this blatant tyranny and communist like habit of urs, then I pray to GOD, u get kicked the Fug out at our next elections!!
p.s - Opposition parties, you better bring your A game next time round.
''Lets, make a change together, for the better..
...for our children, and our children's children..''
- Bhai Angullia -
...for our children, and our children's children..''
- Bhai Angullia -
Singapore - from Meritocracy to Mediocracy.
