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- Dec 30, 2010
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For many years, the PAP has opined that the citizens need to be protected against themselves – citizens are daft, have poor family planning, especially if they are not rich or not educated to tertiary level, and have excessively crazy libido when they retire.
I’d like to share the true story of a responsible Singaporean elderly man. I’ll call him Seng.
Seng is 81 years old this year. He was born in Singapore in 1933 to a hawker peddler who came to Singapore with his wife from Hainan, China. Seng’s parents would later go on to have 3 more sons and one daughter.
Seng had worked at several jobs in his lifetime. By the time Seng retired in 1988, he had been working for almost 40 years. He had always worked hard and never had a sick day or took an overseas holiday except to Malaysia with his family to visit relatives.
When he turned 55 and retired, he took his money out from the CPF leaving behind the minimum sum and Medi-savings as required. The next thing Seng did was to take his faithful homemaker wife on holidays. They have since traveled to parts of China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Macau.
In the meantime, Seng recognised his money wouldn’t last him forever. He took on part time jobs while still having a holiday bi-annually with his wife. He stopped part time work altogether when he moved to Australia to join his son nine years ago.
Seng is not a rich man but he has always been prudent. He is not highly educated but has always worked hard. Seng never attended any financial management course nor had he ever consulted a financial planner except to put in place some insurance when he was younger for the sake of his family. When his children became independent, he gave up the insurance policy, keeping only Medisave and Dependents Insurance scheme by CPF, none of which was compulsory.
Seng must have managed his money quite well. He has been surviving on his CPF savings and income from part time job for about 20 more years after retirement. He did not blow his CPF funds on women, wining or gambling. He continues to have some money and could buy little treats for his grandchildren and give gifts to his wife. He still enjoys travelling and takes little road trips with his wife around Australia.
Seng’s siblings are also all retired and had taken out what they could of their CPF funds. A couple of them still work part time. None of them have bankrupted their CPF savings in Batam or anywhere else.
I suspect the majority of elderly people are like Seng and his siblings. They have been working hard and raised their families. They know all about living within their means. They have lived for many years and gone through many trials in their lives and know how to make good and responsible decisions. They are mature enough not to have illusions of their golden years nor their health. Rather than hold their CPF money to ransom because of the few who might blow it all in Batam, shouldn’t the government return choice and responsibility back to our mature citizens? Why stop the elderly from enjoying their later years after they have worked so hard for so long? Why take away their dignity to live a life they want?
Seng’s story is not all happy though. He recently requested to the government to release his Medisave funds to him as he no longer resides in Singapore and doesn’t need his savings to be locked up for medical treatment in Singapore. He prefers to have the money now so he could continue to live well and enjoy his golden years a little more, which may not be too many left. CPF’s response is, “Sorry, you cannot close your Medisave Account or CPF Accounts”. Seng was told his only recourse is to give up his Singapore citizenship.
Why force the old man to cut off his roots so brutally? He still has siblings in Singapore and his parents are buried on that island. Even though he doesn’t live in Singapore, he doesn’t want to cut off his family ties in this manner. Doesn’t he have any rights to his hard earned savings or even make that choice himself? He had been faithfully contributing to his CPF all his working life including his part time jobs after retirement, can’t he have his savings back now at 81 years old? Hasn’t he proven he has managed his funds responsibly in the 20+ years of his retirement from full time work? What is the logic of holding on to an 81 year-old’s money when he may not have too many years left to spend it the way he chooses to?
http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/06/16/an-unhappy-tale-of-a-responsible-old-man-his-cpf/
I’d like to share the true story of a responsible Singaporean elderly man. I’ll call him Seng.
Seng is 81 years old this year. He was born in Singapore in 1933 to a hawker peddler who came to Singapore with his wife from Hainan, China. Seng’s parents would later go on to have 3 more sons and one daughter.
Seng had worked at several jobs in his lifetime. By the time Seng retired in 1988, he had been working for almost 40 years. He had always worked hard and never had a sick day or took an overseas holiday except to Malaysia with his family to visit relatives.
When he turned 55 and retired, he took his money out from the CPF leaving behind the minimum sum and Medi-savings as required. The next thing Seng did was to take his faithful homemaker wife on holidays. They have since traveled to parts of China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Macau.
In the meantime, Seng recognised his money wouldn’t last him forever. He took on part time jobs while still having a holiday bi-annually with his wife. He stopped part time work altogether when he moved to Australia to join his son nine years ago.
Seng is not a rich man but he has always been prudent. He is not highly educated but has always worked hard. Seng never attended any financial management course nor had he ever consulted a financial planner except to put in place some insurance when he was younger for the sake of his family. When his children became independent, he gave up the insurance policy, keeping only Medisave and Dependents Insurance scheme by CPF, none of which was compulsory.
Seng must have managed his money quite well. He has been surviving on his CPF savings and income from part time job for about 20 more years after retirement. He did not blow his CPF funds on women, wining or gambling. He continues to have some money and could buy little treats for his grandchildren and give gifts to his wife. He still enjoys travelling and takes little road trips with his wife around Australia.
Seng’s siblings are also all retired and had taken out what they could of their CPF funds. A couple of them still work part time. None of them have bankrupted their CPF savings in Batam or anywhere else.
I suspect the majority of elderly people are like Seng and his siblings. They have been working hard and raised their families. They know all about living within their means. They have lived for many years and gone through many trials in their lives and know how to make good and responsible decisions. They are mature enough not to have illusions of their golden years nor their health. Rather than hold their CPF money to ransom because of the few who might blow it all in Batam, shouldn’t the government return choice and responsibility back to our mature citizens? Why stop the elderly from enjoying their later years after they have worked so hard for so long? Why take away their dignity to live a life they want?
Seng’s story is not all happy though. He recently requested to the government to release his Medisave funds to him as he no longer resides in Singapore and doesn’t need his savings to be locked up for medical treatment in Singapore. He prefers to have the money now so he could continue to live well and enjoy his golden years a little more, which may not be too many left. CPF’s response is, “Sorry, you cannot close your Medisave Account or CPF Accounts”. Seng was told his only recourse is to give up his Singapore citizenship.
Why force the old man to cut off his roots so brutally? He still has siblings in Singapore and his parents are buried on that island. Even though he doesn’t live in Singapore, he doesn’t want to cut off his family ties in this manner. Doesn’t he have any rights to his hard earned savings or even make that choice himself? He had been faithfully contributing to his CPF all his working life including his part time jobs after retirement, can’t he have his savings back now at 81 years old? Hasn’t he proven he has managed his funds responsibly in the 20+ years of his retirement from full time work? What is the logic of holding on to an 81 year-old’s money when he may not have too many years left to spend it the way he chooses to?
http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/06/16/an-unhappy-tale-of-a-responsible-old-man-his-cpf/
