I AM surprised by the Government's reaction to an online video of a scavenging destitute woman in Wednesday's report (''Tell me, if someone needs help'').
How does a Member of Parliament know that there are poor people in their community when the RC members block residents from seeing the MP? The RC members are so powerful that they weed out the so called poor people that they dont have a chance to see the MP - it could be their body odour or clothing and RC members then tell them to move away or go away. This is happening but does the Government know? The government must investigate and check impromto on the mannerism of RC members because they are causing a bad reputation for the MPs and the residents think that it's the MPs' idea to prevent the poor residents from airing their views.
I found an example that many heartlanders are not able to see their MPs because certain grass root members BLOCK their way to seeing the MPs and this is because they [personally] are powerful enough to make the decision whether those wanting to see the MPs , [heartlanders]have value. So if any stall holders want to talk to MPs, they cant because they are stopped by insignificant members who are allowed to decide who sees and who does not see the MPs.
So how can the MPs know the heartlanders' problems when the RC staff blocks?
"Although we do not want to erode competitiveness by resorting to high taxes like the Scandinavians, it will be useful to study similarly developed countries like Japan, which has among the smallest income gaps in the world."
Competitiveness and taxes are unrelated. Denmark and Switzerland for instance score very high on the competitiveness index but have at the same time high taxes.
The reason why many Singaporeans believe this lies in the way Singapore developed.
There are other parts in the world which developed in a very different famework.
I have often wondered who those people in RCs are. They are volunteers, but are they elected by the residents concerned, or formally appointed by the PA and their identities made known to the residents? As far as I know, they are mainly concerned with organizing parties with the MPs as guests of honour.
Even if these poor residents meet their MPs, they are refered to CDC who will interview them, give them a form to fill in. The questions they asked often are enough to discourage those seeking help, even if they know how to fill in the answers which most of them don't.
Questions such as 'list the names of your family members, their addresses, employment, salaries, etc.' and many more nonsensical questions, which make it looks like they are completing the forms to apply for more than a stipend.
Tell me, if you have half a dozen elderly siblings scattered all over the island and seldom meet up, do you know their addresses, jobs or pay.
perhaps if the sg government is less paranoid in accumulating assets has a pension system for all its citizens, the people will feel more secured and take more entrepreneur and other risks in life. right now it is all basic bread and butter issues - not reflective of what citizens of a true developed nation should be.
I think its quite a common sight to see an elderly scavenging for newspaper or tin cans these day.. an elderly neighbour on mine will go out early in the morning and came back empty cans and old newspapers, sometime i would give my pile of papers to them.
I think they need to survive, who knows maybe i will need to be doing the same if i dont have any job to support my daily living in the near future.
October 31, 2009 Saturday, 02:09 AM
