The Online Citizen A Community of Singaporeans 
After Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made his speech at the National Day Rally on Sunday (19 Aug), Yahoo! News decided to put up a poll yesterday (20 Aug) to try find out from Singaporeans what was the best announcement coming from PM Lee’s rally speech.
Among other things, PM tackled the issues of 99-year lease of HDB flats, flat upgrading and older estate redevelopment, unveiled a “Merdeka Generation Package” for those born in the 1950s, and touched on the water agreement with Malaysia.
In addition, on healthcare, PM also extended the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) to all Singaporeans with chronic conditions regardless of income.
He also said that the government has nominated hawker culture for UNESCO listing.
So, what was the announcement that resonated most with Singaporeans?
As at 7pm today (21 Aug), 2,940 people have voted. The poll shows that majority of the people (44%) seemed to have another opinion of his speech and didn’t think much of his following announcements:
- Merdeka Generation Package
- CHAS extension
- Nominating Singapore hawker culture for UNESCO listing
- PM’s explanation for 99-year HDB leases
- HDB flats to be upgraded twice
Negative reactions from netizens
On Yahoo! News page, many netizens were throwing brickbats at PM Lee’s speech:
One netizen basically summed up the feelings of many others who were unimpressed with PM’s speech:
Just going by the poll results, it’s apparent that the issues he supposedly ‘tackled’ were not the most critical concerns of local Singaporeans. The critical grievance most Singaporeans have is the Cost of Living which was glossed over and over shadowed by dubious repackaged ‘healthcare’ plans in various forms. The exorbitant cost of HDB (Public housing), ownership, tenancy, lessee etc, was carefully glossed over.