Are Singaporeans empathetic towards the plight of poor people?

[borom]

My simplistic solution ad nauseam-get rid of foreigners doing simple jobs like in F&B, catering and retail and replace them with poor locals.
Getting rid of foreigners will solve most of our problems including lack of hospital beds, overcrowding in trains/buses, high property prices ect2

 

[GoldenDragon]

In Singapore's case, deduct some expense from defence spending, should take care of it. But will the Ministry agree to this?

Cheers!

Agree. MINDEF has been overspending for decades. There is no real need to do that. Another cost cutting measure is for the govt to be objective. There are many jiak liao bees doing FO and commanding 5-figure salary. Time to remove them. My guess is we can cut at least 25% of the civil service. That savings can be better used.

 

[rushifa666]

And please cut from the top not from the bottom. This is why previous changes have always failed

 

[SgGoneWrong]

Agree. MINDEF has been overspending for decades. There is no real need to do that. Another cost cutting measure is for the govt to be objective. There are many jiak liao bees doing FO and commanding 5-figure salary. Time to remove them. My guess is we can cut at least 25% of the civil service. That savings can be better used.

Cut 1 MP can save 6-figure salary.mCut 1 minister can save 7 figure salary.
Sg has over 80 MPs and how many ministers?

 

[virus]

In long term, sure got abuse. If want to help the poor, vote the pappies out!

can you do better and vote me in, instead.

 

[virus]

Cut 1 MP can save 6-figure salary.mCut 1 minister can save 7 figure salary.
Sg has over 80 MPs and how many ministers?

don't waste time... just hv 3 ministers can liaoz. all the rest jiak more liao bee

 

[chonburifc]

Pay FAIRLY is the word. Main reason why I retired at 40 because I need good people to work for me.

 

[yellowarse]

The best solution is a distribution of wealth somewhere in between. Say that the poorest will at least be able to affort a shelter, three meals a day, some creature comforts, education for their kids. I think most countries should be able to achieve this. In Singapore's case, deduct some expense from defence spending, should take care of it. But will the Ministry agree to this?

No one but the arch communist will advocate getting rid of rich people. In every society, some will be richer, some poorer, because of individual differences in talent, drive, priorities, luck, etc. That's as it should be.

What the UN is aiming for is eradicating abject poverty, where people live on less than US$2 a day and guaranteeing a minimum wage so that the 4 basic human needs are met: food, shelter over one's head, education, healthcare.

A society that has its Warren Buffetts and Li Ka-Shings should not tolerate anyone sleeping on the streets, starving to death, dying of illness because he/she is too poor to see a doctor, or children quitting school at the age of 12 to work to support the family.

Minimum wage on its own has its limitations. It has to be combined with basic social safety nets, compulsory education, universal health care, policies ensuring equality of opportunity and eliminating barriers to social mobility.

 

[ns is killing singapore]

it true govt is very stingy when giving real cash into poor hands BUT govt do help the low income family in education by giving free uniforms,shoes,socks and school books. As for tuition, i know CDAC and the Muis do provide teachers to give tuitions to the children. Sometime it the parents who are not making an effort to let their children attend because it "too troublesome" or "too far". my wife went to CDAC apply to give teach tuition class but the attendence rate was so low, only 3 kids attended at the begining, all low income families kids having problem with Maths. By end of term, only one kid left and in the end class had to stop because cannot justified having only one student.

the low income families cannot expect free handout, they have to work hard to get out of the poverty circle. i myself came from a dirt poor family, i know how it feel like to go to school with no money and parents constantly worry lack of money to buy food. sigh.... horrible past.

Then one must rethink why ownself's family is dirt poor in the first place. Upon some thinking, i believe the answer lies somewhere in this post too. "too far" "too troublesome" mindset. Okay next, why do they have this mindset?

 

[ns is killing singapore]

Human beings are greedy by nature, do you think certain people will settle for more equal wealth distribution across a society?

Even if we managed to achieve more equal distribution, it can be undone by future generations of disgruntled wannabe greedy rich people, and the cycle repeats.

 

[Agoraphobic]

There may be political agenda behind this. Maybe it is not a good idea to go with Uncle Sam all the time. Might want to consider Sweden's Saab Gripen to replace the existing planes instead of the super expensive F-35, better to decide on this before it is finalized.

Cheers!

..... MINDEF has been overspending for decades. There is no real need to do that.................

 

[Agoraphobic]

Very true. Although the behaviour of some rich people suck, but society is like that. Even in communist societies, there are privileged ones. The important thing is that the law is above everyone and no one is able to use wealth to bully others. That will be fair.

Cheers!

No one but the arch communist will advocate getting rid of rich people. In every society, some will be richer,..............

 

[eatshitndie]

if you have spent much time observing animals in the wild and migrating birds, you will learn not to intervene, sympathize and feed them, although they may look skinny, hungry and desperate. the moment you give them a handout, it's the end of them as they will keep coming back for easy pickings and lose their ability to survive in the wild. as an example, a kind woman noticed a fawn in her yard struggling to find water and food. so she fed it and gave it water. this went on for days. more deers showed up, and soon the entire herd hanged around the yard. she put out more food and a tub of water. her yard became a wild life sanctuary. and predators showed up too. a mountain lion pride followed the herd to the yard and preyed on the deers one by one. the deers were decimated. they lost their instinct to be wary of predators when so much food and water was present in one open space. no camouflage, no brush and shrubs to hide in. no plan of escape. they let their guard down. very soon, running out of deer, the cougars went after the woman's dogs in her home. true story.

 

[ginfreely]

I think it is becos the majority are middle income people who are fearful of becoming poor when replaced by foreigners. When people don't feel secure, we will tend to become more money minded and think of self and family first. In Spore, it is easy to lose job overnight and from middle income straight away become zero income and cost of living is so high. So the people in the society instead of progressing to higher realm has instead degenerated...

I am a strong activist to support the poor in Singapore, having done volunteer work in welfare organisations.

I realised that most Singaporeans live in their ivory tower without having any regard for the poor. And most are against minimum wage or in Singapore's case progressive wage, fearing that the costs will somehow have to be absorbed by them.

My belief is that miminum wage or progressive wage will help the poor progressively increase their social standings eventually to at least lower middle income. Regardless of whether the costs will be borne by us, they deserve a right to live in bare minimum comfort too.

Here are some write-ups on minimum wage / progressive wage that I found online, each with differing views. What are your thoughts?

http://dollarsandsense.sg/is-minimum-wages-really-that-bad-for-singapore/

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=45106

http://www.fivestarsandamoon.com/lets-talk-money-progressive-wage-model/

http://therealsingapore.com/content/why-minimum-wage-system-not-possible-singapore

 

[kezgtree]

it true govt is very stingy when giving real cash into poor hands BUT govt do help the low income family in education by giving free uniforms,shoes,socks and school books. As for tuition, i know CDAC and the Muis do provide teachers to give tuitions to the children. Sometime it the parents who are not making an effort to let their children attend because it "too troublesome" or "too far". my wife went to CDAC apply to give teach tuition class but the attendence rate was so low, only 3 kids attended at the begining, all low income families kids having problem with Maths. By end of term, only one kid left and in the end class had to stop because cannot justified having only one student.

the low income families cannot expect free handout, they have to work hard to get out of the poverty circle. i myself came from a dirt poor family, i know how it feel like to go to school with no money and parents constantly worry lack of money to buy food. sigh.... horrible past.

Sad to say...free tuition, they are not trying the best to accommodate for these given time...its as if they
wanted the teacher to be at their house...sigh

 

[Troll]

I am a strong activist to support the poor in Singapore, having done volunteer work in welfare organisations.

I realised that most Singaporeans live in their ivory tower without having any regard for the poor. And most are against minimum wage or in Singapore's case progressive wage, fearing that the costs will somehow have to be absorbed by them.

My belief is that miminum wage or progressive wage will help the poor progressively increase their social standings eventually to at least lower middle income. Regardless of whether the costs will be borne by us, they deserve a right to live in bare minimum comfort too.

Here are some write-ups on minimum wage / progressive wage that I found online, each with differing views. What are your thoughts?

http://dollarsandsense.sg/is-minimum-wages-really-that-bad-for-singapore/

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=45106

http://www.fivestarsandamoon.com/lets-talk-money-progressive-wage-model/

http://therealsingapore.com/content/why-minimum-wage-system-not-possible-singapore

I do applaud you for unselfishly contributing your time and money in volunteer works.

The reason why Singaporeans are empathetic is, most of us are struggling too. While the very poor do get help from PAP (because it looks good politically), as well as help from volunteers and NGOs like you, the majority of us are struggling on our own.

The problem with being middle class is, it is very hard to maintain at this level which we fought so hard to achieve, much less to move further up the economic socio ladder. With cost of living escalating day to day, the middle class will become the new poor, if it hasn't already happen.

So it's not so much we are empathetic, but rather everybody's struggling to keep what they have worked so hard for.

 

[Troll]

I think it is becos the majority are middle income people who are fearful of becoming poor when replaced by foreigners. When people don't feel secure, we will tend to become more money minded and think of self and family first. In Spore, it is easy to lose job overnight and from middle income straight away become zero income and cost of living is so high. So the people in the society instead of progressing to higher realm has instead degenerated...

I totally agree with you. It is very easy to slip from middle income class to low / no income class. The problem with being in the middle income class is that, you already have quite a fair bit of financial commitment, and all it take is just one or two bad turn of fortunes, and you are on the slippery slope to the low / no income class.

That is why almost all who are in the class are so preoccupied with money and trying to keep up. Its not so much as to keep up with appearance, but rather to maintain the standard of living they have worked so hard to achieve.

 

[Boliao]

Like you, I am sympathetic to the poor. Having come from a very humble background, I have always had a soft spots for the less fortunate and looked for ways to help them/ give them opportunities in any way I can.

However, I've found myself to be less sympathetic since the last two elections. While a large majority of my wealthier and more successful circles of friends are supporters to the socialistic views, we have never been able to turn the tides against the current governing party. It seems, from voting patterns, that the poor are ignorant of their plight and chooses to vote for the policies that marginalize themselves. It is clear and evident that majority of private/ landed home owners voted for opposition but the HDB dwellers dilute that aspect by voting for the current government.

Most of my friends and I have resigned to the fact that historically, the poor will always be less ignorant, they will always choose for others to think for themselves and in many cases, hostile towards those who are trying to save them from themselves.

So, why should we continue to be sympathetic when they refuse to help themselves? Especially when Singapore's policies are geared to favor the wealthier and more successful in every aspect?

 

[Leongsam]

as an example, a kind woman noticed a fawn in her yard struggling to find water and food. so she fed it and gave it water. this went on for days. more deers showed up, and soon the entire herd hanged around the yard. she put out more food and a tub of water. her yard became a wild life sanctuary. and predators showed up too. a mountain lion pride followed the herd to the yard and preyed on the deers one by one. the deers were decimated. they lost their instinct to be wary of predators when so much food and water was present in one open space. no camouflage, no brush and shrubs to hide in. no plan of escape. they let their guard down. very soon, running out of deer, the cougars went after the woman's dogs in her home. true story.

If you want to see the same thing happening in the human domain, you need look no further than the Auckland city mission where you can witness, first hand, fat, useless and lazy Maori and Pacific Islanders queuing up for FREE food instead of working for it like the rest of us do.

Many of them look like they need to skip a month's worth of meals to get back into shape.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/8109106/Hundreds-queue-for-food

A festive Christmas is an after-thought outside Auckland's City Mission where a queue of more than 200 people stretches down the road.

For some, today is their first-time lining up for help along Hobson St, others are regulars and enjoy the company of others as volunteers hand out Christmas treats to those waiting in line.

But all are in the same boat after coming to the realisation they don't have enough money for food this festive season.

Huia Stewart caught a lift to the mission with her sister Mereana Eder and had been waiting in line since 7.30am.

Between them their four children were waiting patiently in the hot sun.

"We're trying to get food for Christmas... this close everyone is struggling," Stewart said.

"There isn't usually money in our family, but we make do with what we've got.

"I wanted to pay my bills and I have another granddaughter whose sick that I only get $35 a week for but it makes it hard at this time of year."

Stewart went to the mission yesterday as well but left because it was even busier and she knew it was hopeless.

Today she hopes to leave with a food parcel or Work and Income benefit.

"We have moved from that side of the car park to this side so a bigger effort," she said.

"We are just hoping for anything. I don't know what we will do for Christmas."

Auckland City Mission fundraising team leader Liam Willis said about 2000 people will be given mission food parcels and about 3500 will receive benefits this festive season.

The mission will give out around 20,000 donated presents on top of those benefits, and hold a Christmas lunch on Tuesday.

"Everyone who comes will receive something whether it is a mission package or Work and Income benefit," he said.

"The line is getting longer, it's a combination of rising unemployment, lack of opportunity and punitive measures on benefits.

"We buy very little of the toys, people donate them to us, we buy bits of the food parcels but a lot are donated, it all adds up and we are truly grateful."

The mission will be open again on Monday for food parcels.
- © Fairfax NZ News

 

[Leongsam]

More images of useless fat lumps of shit in Auckland queuing for FREE food instead of going on diet.