• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

PG elderly tells TOC he forked out large sum of retirement funds to help daughter buy 4-rm HDB

by Correspondent
08/07/2020
in Current Affairs, Opinion
Reading Time: 4 mins read
2

A member of the Pioneer Generation who goes with the surname Lee recently gave an interview to TOC. Mr Lee was born in 1947 and as such, belongs to the Pioneer Generation. As a young adult, he grew up with Singapore under then founding PM Lee Kuan Yew and DPM Goh Keng Swee, when Singapore began its industrialization. At the time in late 60s and 70s, Singapore started to invite MNCs to invest in Singapore.

1. What was your job in the past before your retirement?

I started off in the government service after school in 1966, then moved on to the private sector after three years in a period seen to be the beginning of the industrialization phase in Singapore. I started off as a first line exempt staff and I retired in 2010 at the age of 63 in a senior management position at an MNC.

2. Can you tell us the difference between then and now in Singapore?

I must confess that I have lived the golden era of Singapore when career advancement and opportunities were plentiful and if one were to put one’s shoulder to the wheel, material comfort, immense job and life satisfaction came readily. I was able to support my parents and my family of four on a single income and comfortably so, financing my children through local tertiary education. My wife resigned from the civil service right after the birth of my first child. Not so today in an environment where even a dual income family finds difficulties in getting by with the astronomical high cost of living.

3. How were the previous generation of PAP leaders?

I thrived and succeeded beyond the wildest imaginations under the 1G/2G leadership teams. They were seen to be doing no wrongs, every socioeconomic policy executed to perfection, almost clockworks with the well beings of the citizens in minds.

4. How do you feel about the current generation of PAP leaders?

They are seen to be doing no right, an echo chamber of group thinkers, in-breeding, empathy deficit, acutely deficient in responsibility and accountability to the people. No one at the top has been taken to tasks for the innumerable failings from SMRT breakdowns to the CV-19 dorm infestation etc.

5. Does your PG card help you in anyway?

In very limited ways, centering on healthcare subsidies, the parsimonious 3% NTUC FairPrice groceries discounts twice a week and the $200/= MediSave top-up a year. All with fine print caps and encumbrances. My home marginally exceeds the AV of $21K and hence excluded from a series of social transfers like the quarterly GST vouchers, U-rebates etc. Not that I clamour for such tokenism, it count for little in an extremely high cost of living environment. But what I ask for is a fairer and just society where our forward generations are assured of social mobility in their life journeys.

6. How are you living now as a retiree? Is your CPF enough?

I have learned to live frugally and made painful adjustments and the CPF Life payouts are far from sufficient to accord a decent living standard.

7. What was the first house you bought and was it affordable?

I was brought up living in a two room rented flat in Tiong Bahru, formerly SIT (Singapore Improvement Trust) build by the colonial government. After marriage, I bought a HDB 5-room flat for $27K with a sea-view to boot. No mortgage loan needed, cash and CPF upfront. After five years, I upgraded to a sizeable freehold condominium, $370K, paid off in three years and living in it till today. I lived free from the burden of debts.

8. What about your children? How are they coping with housing?

Not so with my children, they will be saddled with the burden of mortgage debts for in excess of twenty years. When my second child got married, buying a pigeon hole 4-room HDB flat in a mature estate, it cost in excess of $550K. The reason for buying the HDB flat in a mature estate is because she wanted to stay closer to my wife and I.

As a father, I had to fork out a significant sum out of my retirement funds so that she could have a head start in life. In extended ways, they are still somewhat needing my assistance to make life a little bearable. I am dead worried and concerned about the futures of my children and grandchildren.

9. How are your peers doing?

There are a good number of them struggling with the brutalities that life here bestowed on them in the twilight of their years. Many have downgraded their flats, encashed to live out their remaining years, even from condominium to HDB flats. Their children, tertiary educated, unemployed or under-employed for the past many years. Two cases of which their children suffered psychological setbacks and lost their self-esteem, requiring psychological counseling. Several of them age 7O and above went back to work as security guards and in the gig economy when previously they were in executive positions.

10. What do you hope to see happen in Singapore?

A government focused on the well being of the citizens and a keenly contested parliament with ideas to bring Singapore back to the glorious past of the 1G/2G eras and a less crowded, rat race environment.

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI
Indonesia

Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

02/02/2023
Commentaries

The Keppel bribery scandal tests Singapore’s zero-tolerance policy towards corruption

02/02/2023
Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives
Singapore

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

02/02/2023
US businesses ‘fear internet curbs in Hong Kong’
AFP

Hong Kong offers free flights after COVID isolation

02/02/2023
Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?
AFP

Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?

02/02/2023
India’s Adani shares plunge again after stock sale cancelled
AFP

India’s Adani empire loses more than US$100 bn after fraud claims

02/02/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
2 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

02/02/2023

The Keppel bribery scandal tests Singapore’s zero-tolerance policy towards corruption

02/02/2023
Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

02/02/2023
US businesses ‘fear internet curbs in Hong Kong’

Hong Kong offers free flights after COVID isolation

02/02/2023
Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?

Why is Gautam Adani’s Indian empire in turmoil?

02/02/2023
India’s Adani shares plunge again after stock sale cancelled

India’s Adani empire loses more than US$100 bn after fraud claims

02/02/2023
Former political prisoners calls for abolishment of ISA and apology from PAP Govt on 60th anniversary of Operation Coldstore

Former political prisoners calls for abolishment of ISA and apology from PAP Govt on 60th anniversary of Operation Coldstore

02/02/2023
Indian state picks new capital after kicking out Singapore consortium

Indian state picks new capital after kicking out Singapore consortium

02/02/2023

Trending posts

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

by Yee Loon
30/01/2023
25

...

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

by Yee Loon
26/01/2023
24

...

Two Indian nationals paid about S$330 and S$730 respectively for forged certificates submitted in their S-Pass application

MOM found issuing EPs meant for foreign PMETs to PRC waitress and general worker

by Correspondent
26/01/2023
41

...

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

by Augustine Low
01/02/2023
33

...

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

by The Online Citizen
26/01/2023
59

...

Indian rupee falls 60% since signing of CECA while Singapore becomes top investor in India

by Correspondent
25/01/2023
69

...

July 2020
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Jun   Aug »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz