Blogger and activist Roy Ngerng rebutted PAP’s senior politician and MP Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s recent remark that unemployment insurance or benefits are needed in advanced countries with high structural unemployment, saying that it is “not very true”.

Mr Shanmugaratnam was quoted by Today on 23 July as saying that Singapore has managed to keep its unemployment rates relatively low so far despite the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the economy, meaning that it doesn’t need unemployment insurance for now.

He said, “We don’t need it in Singapore yet because our unemployment rates are very low and we’ve been able to get people back into jobs relatively quickly.”

Mr Ngerng, however, rebutted this statement in a Facebook post on the same day where he provided a chart showing the unemployment benefit rate and unemployment rates in several advanced countries.

The activist noted, “According to the World Bank, Singapore’s unemployment rate in 2019 was 4.1%.”

Pointing to the chart he shared in the post, Mr Ngerng added, “I also chart the net replacement rate of the unemployment insurance, or the proportion of unemployment insurance as a proportion of the last-drawn salary an unemployed person receives.”

He did this based on information from OECD statistics.

Mr Ngerng highlighted that while the article by Today said “advanced countries that need unemployment benefits so far are those with high structural unemployment,” there are still countries with lower unemployment rates than Singapore which still provide unemployment insurance.

“And when you look at the unemployment insurance in these advanced countries, some of them provide unemployment insurance at as high as 80% to 90% of the last-drawn salary of a worker,” he continued.

Mr Ngerng went on to say he is “disappointed” with Mr Shanmugaratnam for making the earlier statement, adding that “ this is a PAP statement he has to make because the PAP refuses to implement unemployment insurance, and he is not allowed to say otherwise.”

He added, “However, as you can see below, the evidence goes against Tharman’s claims and the PAP’s claims about unemployment insurance.”

The activist noted that the implementation of an unemployment insurance is up to “political will” and whether a government is willing to provide protection to is workers who have lost their jobs to help tide them through the high cost of living while they look for a new job,

“Basically, the PAP doesn’t want to implement it. It is selfish,” he slammed.

Moving on to Mr Shanmugaratnam specifically, Mr Ngerng said, “The longer Tharman is with the PAP, the longer he has to speak PAP, but this only further destroys his reputation, when he has to speak against the evidence.”

As for the PAP, he echoed a critique that has been said before, which is that “the PAP today is no longer the PAP of the past,” adding that “it will not implement the policies that are needed to protect Singaporeans.”

Subscribe
Notify of
9 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Singaporean Gilbert Louis released by Malaysian Authorities after more than a month in detention

By way of a Facebook post on 14 November, international human rights…

涉嫌诈欺足总逾63万元 足总前副总监夫妇遭提控

涉嫌诈诈欺新加坡足球总会高达63万新元资金,包括一名足总前副总监(deputy director)等四名新加坡人,今日(9日)被提控上庭。 根据新加坡贪污调查局文告,40岁的里甘日星(Rikram Jit Singh Randhir Singh),以及妻子艾莎(Asya Kirin Kames)被提控合谋诈欺足总,让足总把业务判给里甘妻子的公司。夫妇俩为此面对多达45项诈欺控状。 里甘日星在2016年至2018年期间,在足总旗下担任商业与业务发展副总监,他的工作合约在2019年1月到期。 至于他33岁的妻子艾莎,在2017年4月至10月期间,在体育休闲用品批发公司All Resource…

为“辱华”道歉遭炮轰 “Uncle Roger”:不会向恶意评论低头

马来西亚籍谐剧艺人“Uncle Roger”黄瑾瑜,日前因与美食博主陈兴拍摄视频,涉嫌“辱华”事件遭中国网友攻击,随后黄谨瑜在微博上致歉并删掉相关视频,却反而引起他国网友嘲笑他向人民币“下跪”,引用他的话反讽“MSG终究比不上RMB”等等,更呼吁大家取消订阅他的频道。 现年29岁、旅居英国黄谨瑜,因为扮演的食评人角色“Uncle Roger”,以幽默生动的方式评语《BBC》的炒饭教学,迅速走红,截至目前已有300万订户。随着“Uncle Roger”走红后,也经常和知名Youtuber合作拍视频。 然而,他此前与美食博主陈兴合作拍有关制作饺子的视频,引发百万人关注,然而,有中国网友注意到,美食博主陈兴经常在个人推特、IG上批评中国共产党,掀起部分中国网民不满,纷纷涌入留言抗议。 周二(12日)黄谨瑜也在微博上发文道歉,并删掉相关视频,强调自己身为一个马来西亚长大的华人,非常热爱中国文化。 他表示,该视频引发了非常不好的社会影响,考虑到事情的严重性及视频本身造成的不良影响,因此决定将其删除。 不料,他的道歉却反而引发他国网友的热议,被其他国家的网友调侃为“为人民下跪“。 网友还引用他的话反讽“MSG(味精)终究比不上RMB(人民币)”等等,更呼吁大家取消订阅他的频道。 对此,黄谨瑜则在上周六(16日)发布有关视频发声,指他的原意只是为了制作搞笑视频,并以“No politic…

印度安得拉邦政府 正式搁置阿玛拉瓦提发展项目

印度安得拉邦(Andhra Pradesh)新政府,上周三(30)宣布终止与淡马锡旗下公司的协议,正式取消阿玛拉瓦提(Amaravati)新首府发展项目。 据印度媒体报道,淡马锡旗下公司自启动项目时便遇上土地问题,当时所分配到的土地(约1692英亩),有170英亩正好坐落在河床上。而根据《河流保护法》与印度国家绿色法庭的指示,该部分土地是不允许进行开发活动,迫使该公司必须寻找替代的土地。 尽管可以寻找其他替代土地,但找寻新的土地意味着必须改变核心基本建设,同时也会涉及与不同的地方政府交涉,问题变得相对复杂。 自2014年起,淡马锡旗下公司一直参与阿玛拉瓦提的建城项目。2015年,盛育控股集团(Surbana Jurong)便提出建成项目的总计划;2017年胜科城镇发展印度公司(Sembcorp Development India)与与星桥腾飞安得拉投资控股(Ascendas-Singbridge Andhra)成主要开发商;去年6月7日,胜科城镇发展印度公司与星桥腾飞安得拉投资控股合资成立公司,与印度安得拉邦政府签署阿玛拉瓦提起步开发区的股东协议与特许权开发协议。 新首长上任,指责前政府涉贪腐 根据项目计划显示,前安得拉邦政府将阿玛拉瓦提指定为期新邦府,其规模将会是新加坡的十倍大,牵涉数十亿元的投资,将分成三大阶段进行。 不过却事与愿违,在去年在印度大选中,奈杜领导的前地方执政党泰卢固之乡党(Telugu…