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I am a Bukit Batok resident. My MP just resigned a few weeks ago because of certain “personal indiscretions”.
A by-election will be held soon they say. (Bookies put their odds on May/June 2016)
The PAP is sending a candidate who used to be a son of Bukit Batok but later became an adopted son of Paya Lebar. (He is now trying to become a son of Bukit Batok once again). Where else The SDP is sending a candidate who is trying hard to rehabilitate his image as a politician ruffian, liar and mentor-ouster.
My vote is still undecided.
The things the two parties say in the run-up to the by-election will probably shape that. (I was expecting that the #SgBudget2016 will be more helpful.. but screw that..and screw you Heng Swee Keat for your ‘targeted budget’)
Still reeling from the disappointment I was curious when I heard that SDP issued a response to this year’s Budget.
The Time is Now.
But nb, their budget even worse than Heng Swee Keat’s and let me tell you why.
(Please bring back Tharman! 50% off income tax!)
SDP opened their response with a statement that Heng Swee Keat’s Budget did not quite do the job of addressing the immediate needs of the people and society, as well as looking into the future.
But they did not bother to explain why Heng Swee Keat’s Budget sucked. I had expected them to break down the Budget, and then provide elaborations on why the various schemes and policies did not “quite do the job”.
But they didn’t. I was disappointed because I expected better from the voice that aims to represent the people of Singapore.
Next, SDP outlined the three key challenges Singaporeans face at the moment. According to SDP, they are (1) the economic downturn, (2) the inability of many major retailers to survive the high cost environment in Singapore, and (3) Singapore’s inability to increase productivity, and upgrade the economy to one that is driven by ideas and innovation.
Ok.
SDP said that in order to deal with these challenges, they were proposing the following alternatives:
Scale back the G’s involvement in business
SDP argued that the G “should not be taking the lead in business,” and that “PAP’s top-down approach is obsolete and cannot rejuvenate a highly stressed and anachronistic economic system.”
So what’s the alternative?
Free market? Bottom-up? How much is too much involvement?
If something goes wrong after the G has scaled back on their involvement, whose fault is it? Still the G’s? What are the possible adverse implications of a G scale back, and how would SDP deal with them?
Lower land costs. The exodus of business from Singapore is alarming
This one really best. Didn’t even tell us how exactly they would do differently to bring down land costs. It is like I tell you I have a rat problem, then your solution is to ask me to go catch the rats. Duh.
Eh, might as well don’t say anything right.
Introduce a national retrenchment insurance programme
Ok, I admit. I know nothing about insurance, and Medishield Life confuses me. But shouldn’t SDP provide more details, such as how much this would cost the G every year, and how the insurance programme would be implemented. I mean, it is easy to say we should do this or that, but the devil lies in the details.
Return freedom to the people, as political openness promotes creative thinking and innovation.
Erm, sure. This is as good as saying that democracy is a panacea to most problems, including sluggish economic growth. How about democracies gone wrong?
SPD said it has been “well established that a fearful political climate does not conduce to creative thinking and innovation.” Well established by who? At least provide some credible citations lah, your university prof never teach meh?
All in all, their response to the Budget feels like a poorly written GP essay that is full of motherhood statements and fluff, and without the evidence to back it up. Written by a student that is trying to smoke his teacher.
Am I asking too much from an opposition party?
A friend once said that it is unfair to measure opposition parties with the same yardstick as the ruling party. The reason is because the opposition parties have far less resources viz. the ruling party (yeah, many of my civil servant friends work OT all the time to staff their ministers), and far less experience.
My friend argued that it would be akin to demanding an office intern to perform at the same level as a good worker who has been around for ten years. What we should look out for instead, my friend said, is whether this office intern has the potential to do as well or even better than the good worker in the future.
I want to give the opposition a chance. But they must show a bit of substance lah.
But in this case, SDP haven’t been able to convince me that they have that potential.
Perhaps I’m really asking too much from a political party that has argued for the cutting of the defence budget in the current geo-political climate – ISIS and all.
There is still time left for SDP to convince me. But the clock is ticking.
In the meantime, I would be interested to hear more about what PAP has to offer to Bukit Batok residents. I hope they don’t disappoint as well.
https://thoughtsofrealsingaporeans.w...o-budget-2016/
A by-election will be held soon they say. (Bookies put their odds on May/June 2016)
The PAP is sending a candidate who used to be a son of Bukit Batok but later became an adopted son of Paya Lebar. (He is now trying to become a son of Bukit Batok once again). Where else The SDP is sending a candidate who is trying hard to rehabilitate his image as a politician ruffian, liar and mentor-ouster.
My vote is still undecided.
The things the two parties say in the run-up to the by-election will probably shape that. (I was expecting that the #SgBudget2016 will be more helpful.. but screw that..and screw you Heng Swee Keat for your ‘targeted budget’)
Still reeling from the disappointment I was curious when I heard that SDP issued a response to this year’s Budget.
The Time is Now.
But nb, their budget even worse than Heng Swee Keat’s and let me tell you why.
(Please bring back Tharman! 50% off income tax!)
SDP opened their response with a statement that Heng Swee Keat’s Budget did not quite do the job of addressing the immediate needs of the people and society, as well as looking into the future.
But they did not bother to explain why Heng Swee Keat’s Budget sucked. I had expected them to break down the Budget, and then provide elaborations on why the various schemes and policies did not “quite do the job”.
But they didn’t. I was disappointed because I expected better from the voice that aims to represent the people of Singapore.
Next, SDP outlined the three key challenges Singaporeans face at the moment. According to SDP, they are (1) the economic downturn, (2) the inability of many major retailers to survive the high cost environment in Singapore, and (3) Singapore’s inability to increase productivity, and upgrade the economy to one that is driven by ideas and innovation.
Ok.
SDP said that in order to deal with these challenges, they were proposing the following alternatives:
Scale back the G’s involvement in business
SDP argued that the G “should not be taking the lead in business,” and that “PAP’s top-down approach is obsolete and cannot rejuvenate a highly stressed and anachronistic economic system.”
So what’s the alternative?
Free market? Bottom-up? How much is too much involvement?
If something goes wrong after the G has scaled back on their involvement, whose fault is it? Still the G’s? What are the possible adverse implications of a G scale back, and how would SDP deal with them?
Lower land costs. The exodus of business from Singapore is alarming
This one really best. Didn’t even tell us how exactly they would do differently to bring down land costs. It is like I tell you I have a rat problem, then your solution is to ask me to go catch the rats. Duh.
Eh, might as well don’t say anything right.
Introduce a national retrenchment insurance programme
Ok, I admit. I know nothing about insurance, and Medishield Life confuses me. But shouldn’t SDP provide more details, such as how much this would cost the G every year, and how the insurance programme would be implemented. I mean, it is easy to say we should do this or that, but the devil lies in the details.
Return freedom to the people, as political openness promotes creative thinking and innovation.
Erm, sure. This is as good as saying that democracy is a panacea to most problems, including sluggish economic growth. How about democracies gone wrong?
SPD said it has been “well established that a fearful political climate does not conduce to creative thinking and innovation.” Well established by who? At least provide some credible citations lah, your university prof never teach meh?
All in all, their response to the Budget feels like a poorly written GP essay that is full of motherhood statements and fluff, and without the evidence to back it up. Written by a student that is trying to smoke his teacher.
Am I asking too much from an opposition party?
A friend once said that it is unfair to measure opposition parties with the same yardstick as the ruling party. The reason is because the opposition parties have far less resources viz. the ruling party (yeah, many of my civil servant friends work OT all the time to staff their ministers), and far less experience.
My friend argued that it would be akin to demanding an office intern to perform at the same level as a good worker who has been around for ten years. What we should look out for instead, my friend said, is whether this office intern has the potential to do as well or even better than the good worker in the future.
I want to give the opposition a chance. But they must show a bit of substance lah.
But in this case, SDP haven’t been able to convince me that they have that potential.
Perhaps I’m really asking too much from a political party that has argued for the cutting of the defence budget in the current geo-political climate – ISIS and all.
There is still time left for SDP to convince me. But the clock is ticking.
In the meantime, I would be interested to hear more about what PAP has to offer to Bukit Batok residents. I hope they don’t disappoint as well.
https://thoughtsofrealsingaporeans.w...o-budget-2016/
