On Sunday (26 May), the People’s Voice Party (PVP) visited the Choa Chu Kang GRC and Pioneer SMC in order to get in touch with voters in the area while distributing bread to them, as part of their “Bread for All” program.
While speaking at the Keat Hong market in Choa Chu Kang GRC, party leader Lim Tean revealed some concerns raised by the seniors in the area after the party went around asking them what they think of the current living situation in Singapore.
“There’s a lot of anger. Most of them tell us that the Government has failed its duties to look after the seniors of the country,” said Mr Lim Tean.
According to the opposition party leader, People’s Action Party (PAP) rolls out new packages like Pioneer and Merdeka during election season solely “to buy votes”.
He added that even the senior citizens from the Pioneer generation that he met during bread distribution event realised that “after four year, the Pioneer package is actually nothing more than an empty package”, as they don’t benefit much from it.
If that is not all, elderly people are also struggling as the Central Provident Fund (CPF) monthly payout is merely just S$355 on average.
Based on a recent survey by Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, it shows that a regular elderly person in the country needs at least S$1380 whereas a couple needs at least S$2350. In addition, for those in between the age of 55 to 66, they will need more than S$1700 to survive.
As such, he then questioned how the minimum CPF payout is going to sustain them.
Following that, Mr Lim Tean emphasised that his party is here not to just “make up the numbers”. They have “a mission to transform Singapore” and to give hope to all Singaporeans, including seniors.
In the video that he posted on Facebook, he also disclosed that in two weeks’ time, PVP will be conducting a labour conference where they will unveil their policies to give back jobs, especially well-paying jobs, to the locals.
“We are going to bring the jobs back to Singaporeans because too many jobs are now going to foreigners,” he noted.
Having said that, he urges all Singaporeans including millennials and Merdeka generation to join the Labour conference and hear what the party has to say about returning jobs meant for the locals.
