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The following letter had been sent to us by Alina Yim, 22, Economics student
With the next GE drawing near, the political parties are back in our attention. The Reform Party recently made the news, headlined “Cash handouts, social welfare schemes at heart of Reform Party’s proposals“.
Basic pension of $500 a month for all senior citizens aged 65 and above, with an estimated cost of $3 billion per year. Sounds attractive, but is it sustainable?
RP also suggested monthly payouts of $300 for each child aged below 18. And these can reportedly be done without raising taxes. I’m guessing that the party is hoping to tap on our reserves.
‘The government’s attitude has always been that we are too childlike to make rational decisions and therefore the sweet jar must be hidden away on a high shelf out of our reach.’ – RP’s response to Budget 2011
I’m not very sure if we want to start going down the path of using reserves. Especially when DPM Tharman recently reminded us at the St. Gallen Symposium, ‘But the unfortunate fact of the last 50 years is that governments that gave money without conditions — in other words, as long as you are unemployed you get it, and you get it for an extended period — did not anticipate how it would change social culture… We don’t want that to happen to Singapore.’
Since I’ve been rather politically apathetic in GE2011, I went on to search about the party out of curiosity. Here’s a rally video:
And the hate sure persisted till 2015:
I don’t know about you, I find the caption particularly in bad taste. And if I may put it: Juvenile. What is the agenda of riling people up against the ruling party? If the intention is to garner more votes, I don’t think that’s the way it should be done.
Should you be truly competent, you will be confident enough to defeat your opponents without putting the blame and shaming them. I believe all citizens appreciate intelligent discourse – It’s not all about talking. I’m not just referring to RP.
