This is my first and probably last blog post since arriving here at California. I am glad to be given the opportunity to visit the US and being able to explore its many interesting places during the weekends.
However, there is one thing that makes me a little regretful coming here.
The Singapore General Elections 2011.
Being here in California means that I will not be able to place my vote unless I travel to DC, SFO or NYC.
This year's GE is going to be pretty intense. No one will know how the final results will turn out to be. Out of 87 seats, 81 were contested. The highest number of seats being contested since a long long time.
I have always been thinking about the plight of true-pink Singaporeans and how the current governement runs the country. Their policies and laws put in place which affects the lives of all Singaporeans, especially the middle to low income group. With this coming elections, my feelings and thoughts intensifies...
There are people who feels that the PAP, being so high up in their ivory tower, with their very obess pay cheques, are very much out of touch with what is happening on the ground. They cannot be blamed for this. When one is affluent enough, one will never ever be able to understand what the poor is going through. How their lives are being lived. It is simply incomprehensible to the wealthy.
I remember I once watched the movie Money No Enough 2. In the show, the 3 brothers were forced to transfer their sick mother, who took very good care of them when they were young, from a very well equipped private hospital to a public government hospital. During that scene, one of my friends, who happens to be from a very well to do family, exclaimed: "The sons are so unfilial! I would never do that if I were them!" That statement struck a cord in me. I realised that this friend of mine, who had everything given to him by his parents, will never be able to understand what it means to be poor. What it means to earn a living. What it means to own his own car. What it means to support a family. The rich will simply not understand as, with money, these day to day problems simply is non existent to them.
I simply said: "Just ask yourself this. Will you be able to give the kind of life your parents gave you now once they retire? Just by your own capability?"
If the PAP can get a surgery done for a mere SGD$8 due to their benefits and subsidies, how can they ever ever understand what the average Singaporean has to go through and pay for the cost of a surgery. Naturally, to them, hospital bills are very affordable! Cheaper than 3 packets of chicken rice!
If hospital bills are really that cheap, there will not be a saying: "You can die in Singapore. But you cannot afford to be sick." I guess that is why our Ah Gong said "You die your business!"
Everyone knows that public housing prices are skyrocketing. Young couples are taking loans of up to 30 years! In the end, they are left with nothing in their CPF accounts. While it is true that they may get a roof over their head which can bring them profit if they were to sell it in years to come, but that would mean they will have to sleep in the streets!
To buy another house after selling will also mean they have to pay a higher price for that new house! Everyone knows, if you sell high, you buy high.
Most Singaporeans will never go bankrupt. But they will be forever in debt despite working their whole life.
There are some who said, if you don't like it, you can choose to leave the country. This statement is, again, made by ignorant fools who are rich enough to not know what the poor is going through. The poor do not have no choices! They cannot CHOOSE to leave like you can. They do not have the means nor the money to relocate themselves to another country. The only way is to become a refugee...
While Singapore is painted as a City of Gold, there are loads of middle to lower income families who are true-pink Singaporeans. They are Singaporeans like you and me. Yet they are left behind as Singapore races forwards to get the highest GDP growth. It is this group of people that we should pay more attention to... they make up a substantial percentile of our population. We should not leave them behind.
These lower income families are, in general, not as well educated as us. Their lives are very much affected by the relentless influx of foreigners. Their wages are affected and worst, they may even lost their jobs as they are being out competed by younger foreigners who are asking for a very much lower pay. Nowadays, trains are packed to the brim unlike just 5 years ago. I feel that I am in a foreign country. The local to foreigners ratio is 2 to 3, almost like Dubai. And no! I do not count permanent residents as locals.
As I always say, there should not be discrimination, but there should be distinction. I do not discriminate foreigners. Foreign workers are needed for the physical development of the nation. As Singaporeans are getting more and more educated, not much are willing to take up manual and physical occupations. But there needs to be a clear and very define distinction between locals, permanent residents and foreigners. Executive jobs should be given to Singaporeans first. Scholarships should be used to nurture rooted Singaporeans first!
Having said that, I am very against foreigners who refuse to integrate with our society and instead, demand us to accommodate to their whims and way of doing things. The PAP is spending our taxpayers money to help these foreigners integrate into our society when they should be the one who should be spending the extra effort to do so. Moreover, why should we be paying for them to try to get them to integrate into our society when almost all of them are not interested in staying rooted in Singapore?
I am going to buy a flat soon. I choose to buy a resale flat in AMK despite its high cost and lack of grants for buying from the free market. Why? Because when i go home from work everyday, I want to really go Home. A home with local Singaporeans. AMK, unlike the new towns, still has a relatively high local to foreigner ratio. I do not want to go home to a place where everywhere i go, i see foreigners. I know my decision will be expensive. That is why i rather choose an older flat within AMK.
Many fear to vote for the opposition for they are afraid that by making the wrong choice, it will be the end of Singapore. What is the worst that could happen to Singapore in 5 years? Will there by repercussions which will affect us far longer into the future? If we focus less on growth of GDP, will we fall behind our neighbors? Behind by 5 years or maybe more? Are we willing to not be the number one in our region?
Can we afford not to be number one?
These are questions we have to bare in mind before we cast our sacred votes.
No matter what, there needs to be changes. The new government will have to find a balance amongst this network of issues.
