Politic isn't my thing. But what does one make of the sweetenings dished out by the gahman?
The writings are on the wall. I can't fault the gahman for dangling the carrots. It's the only logical thing to do to score big on the BIG DAY, anytime between a few weeks to a couple of months. Any sane gahman will do likewise; and the oppositions too, if they have the means.
I'm mostly happy that the bulk of the 2.6 billion Progress Package is going towards helping the lower-income strata of our society. Now kids of poor families have the chance to lift their families out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
But surely, we know there's no such thing as free lunches. And our gahman makes sure we know that as well. To qualify for the payout to low-income earners, one has to be in employment continuously for six-months last year, and another six months this year to get the other half of the payout next year. The gahmen is telling us: You help yourself; and we will help you.
I think it's commendable that our gahman is taking care not to turn our republic into a welfare state like some western countries where people choose to live on dole. Perhaps their unemployment rate is really dire, but with the gahman handling out money and food, what incentive is there to find a job?
Category: Gahman
2 comments:
Luckily your political comments are all very positive and sensible, in other words, pro-gahmen. Otherwise the Idealogical Social Division will surely take note of your blog :).
If the gahmen only gives the handouts to those who worked a minimum of 6 months, then there will still be some people who need help but won't get it. I saw a Chinese documentary on TV earlier this week about this woman divorcee who single-handedly had to take care of a young intellectually disabled step-daughter, a younger daughter of her own and an aged mother. At 40+, she had chronic backache problems and had to walk with the help of a walking stick. Despite all these problems, she still found the time to do part-time jobs although she didn't earn very much. She was also rejected several times by a certain ministry when she applied for a license to make and sell balloon sculptures on the streets - reason being that her work was not up to standard. She revealed in tears that at one stage, she was all dressed up in red and was at the verge of jumping down from a building. But the thoughts of her mother and children finally changed her mind.
The problem with our gahmen is that any handouts it gives are always tied to some conditions. One good example is the gahmen CPF grants. Why insist on the public contributing $50 to their CPF accounts to qualify for the grants? I feel that for hardship cases like that of the woman I described, the gahmen should just be flexible and help out without asking for the fulfilling of any conditions. This then is a truly compassionate gahmen.
Mampus Victor, now they will come after you for painting them in such a "bad light".
It's always sad to read about fellow Singaporeans trying to eke out a living here. Those programs as mentioned by you always tug at our heartstrings and make us appreciate what we have. I suppose our gahman is just being cautious not to turn Singapore into a welfare state. Sometimes, pragmatism gains the upper hand and policies become over-rigid. But as I've mentioned before, our gahmen is not averse to making U-turns where policies have been misplaced. For instance, when the gahmen issued us shares, it became apparent that the majority of Singaporeans prefer to convert them into cash despite the high interest rates offered. So this time round, the gahman is giving out cash. And what about the Elephant Cut-outs at Buangkok MRT? The poor woman has many venues to turn to for financial assistance, I’m sure. We may not agree with all the polices implemented. No gahman in the world gets 100% mandate. But yes, I do think, at this point in time, that ours is a gahman that is compassionate and not without fore-sights.
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