By Leong Sze Hian ~
I refer to 'The Straits Times' articles WP 'chose not to send Png into Parliament' and 'Voters free to pick best man' from May 21 2012.
Foreign workers curtailed?
The former states that “in the past year, it has tightened the inflow of foreign workers”. Based on 2011 data, local employment grew by 36,600 in while foreign employment grew by 84,800.
According to the Ministry of Manpower, local employment growth declined by 35%, from 56,200 in 2010, and of these locals, how many were Singaporeans? In contrast, foreign employment growth increased by 42%, from 59,700 in 2010.
Casinos outcome?
The latter states that “(Denise Phua had) also spoken out against casinos”. A total of 273,693 local gamblers visited the two casinos last year but the more important question would be, 'How much of the two integrated resorts’ combined annual gaming revenue of $5.7 billion and pre-tax profits of $3.6 billion were derived from the gambling losses of locals?'
The government's review of the integrated resorts also does not show how often the 273,693 locals visit the casinos, that is – how many visits did they make in total last year?
Reason for staying?
In the article Desmond Choo on why he stayed on despite GE defeat on May 21 2012, Desmond recounted how an elderly woman came up to him, grabbed his hand, and reminded him that things could change if he worked hard. "Because of her, Desmond Choo said last night, he decided to stay on serving in Hougang." Historically, the losing candidate stays on as the grassroots adviser to the constituency.
In the report DPM Teo questions if Hougang voters being taken for granted, he said that “(the PAP is) building more new flats to stabilise property prices and (implemented) schemes such as the Workfare Income Supplement to raise the wages of low wage workers”. However, despite the measures taken by the government, the HDB Resale Price Index increased by 9.6 per cent from 174.8 to 191.6, from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012.
Q. Which is the only country in the world that does not disclose public housing statistics like mortgages in arrears, foreclosures, etc?
A. Singapore – only when questions are asked in Parliament are some public housing statistics revealed. Even among those figures, only HDB loan statistics, not HDB bank loan statistics are revealed.
According to the Straits Times article on 7 Feb 2012, Mind set change needed to help low-wage workers, “Government figures released last week show that there were 236,300 Singaporeans and residents who earned a gross income of less than $1,000 per month as of June last year, up from 218,700 a decade earlier. The figure excludes incomes of full-time national servicemen."
"If you take household, not personal income figures, the picture does not get rosier. In 2010, there were more than 100,000 households with an average monthly income from work of $1,400." Note that Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) is only given to Singaporeans aged 35 and above who earn less than $1,700 a month.
This article is published by The Online Citizen, 20 Maxwell Road, #09-17 Maxwell House, Singapore 069113.
