Singapore Democrats

it is more important instead to focus on whether the new ministers will be able to address the hot button issues such as transportation and housing.

“Shifting portfolios among ministers without addressing these policies only signals that the Government is interested in cosmetic changes,”

Wait is the hardest work of all work in politic. Time to wait is time to grow for the inner man.

"It is simply not in the DNA of the PAP to see citizens as partners and co-creators."

This simple statement made by a casual observer in Temasek Review - sums up the insisted path of the PAP towards its own political demise, as it becomes irrelevant to the circumstances that LKY had hoped for Singapore to be a member of the First World.

The tone of the PAP was set by LKY in his early political thinking that the government should - 'fill the stomachs, and dull the minds' - of the population, so as to give the government the space to execute its own agenda as it see fit.

The problem is that the PAP government - with LKY at the helm - had filled their own stomachs so full - with the obscene Ministerial wages, that their own minds have become dull, and they were no longer challenged to see issues with any new resolve to find any solutions.

Singaporean complaints were seen as 'NOISE', and Singaporean persistent call for change is seen to be 'DAFT', and with the PAP leadership believing that 'SPURS have to be dug into the hides of Singaporeans'.

With the current change in the Ministerial positions in the NEW Cabinet, there are many NEW FACES from the new PAP Candidates - who were only freshly elected into Parliament - now suddenly selected for immediate appointment into Ministerial positions.

All are without political track record nor experience in government, and have little active work with society.

This clearly debunk the PAP claim that experience and track record are essential for government office.

This brings hope to the Alternative Political Parties, whose candidates are academically better qualified, with the added bonus of their many years of real world experience and active connection to the society at large.

Lee Kuan Yew confessed that "nobody can convert me." That is the DNA of PAP Men In White since the beginning.

Hope and lobby that the Parliamentarians can scrap the ISD and the ISA from our political landscape before the GIC Advisor LKY passed away. He is falling just like any other mortal being.

cpf (if not)…. is the largest bank if to be compared to the 3 local banks….. like co-operative funds that can be easily and readily provided…. however, being a trustee institution, till date, there is no annually audited figures published for the public for viewing.

interestingly, each and every time, cpf is tweaked with petite interest adjusted, is still unable to meet with the ever increased inflation cost.

for the younger generation, getting to be married before age 30 and a hugh housing loans for 25 – 30 years. By then, both in age 60 – so today cpf for the younger generation is to pay for your H igh D ebt B urdens. don't even think that both spouses cpf are sufficient for your gracfully retirement.

ThinkAll @”Debt becomes a social, economic and political control.”
Lee Kuan Yew publicly said it is his intention to get singaporeans into debt (read: heavy debt) as a way for them to “have a stake in the system” and not “rock the boat”.
The unsuspecting usual singaporean may think nothing about this and might even agree with him, yes people need to be motivated to work and work towards the better good of singapore – but they only need to realize that this means the PAP government is literally imposing crippling indirect taxes on the people and subject them to a lower standard of living which they would otherwise have. (which could develop a viable domestic market – never quite understood the PAP argument that domestic market is based solely on population size. surely disposable income is a better gauge?)
To add insult to injury, the huge capital proceeds from land and property sales are funneled and redirected eventually to our GLCs Temasek, GIC…etc which suddenly owes no transparency or obligation, or for that matter, pay interest to the people of singapore whose money they used.
Not to mention singapore is a highly volatile economy with no social safety net. High debt exacerbates the financial and social stress on singaporeans which indirectly leads to low, almost non-existent birth rates, which leads to the PAP government having the excuse to import foreigners which further increases the social stress factor.
So perhaps singaporeans should stop and think about the symptoms of their lives and question the root causes of them.

CPF again for who? Citizens can work together means winning together. Citizens MUST demand all monies in CPF to be return to rightfully owned owners prior 50.Period.
If the work is something that is worthwhile, then, regardless whether we can achieve it or not, make attempt. That is, I think, important. Courageous.

Who decides the titles of new Ministerial positions?

Who suddenly decided to create a Emeritus Senior Minister role?

A Ministerial roles should be approved by Parliament.

We can’t have the Prime Minister or President suddenly make up new Ministerial roles and then give them huge salaries!!

Where are the checks-and-balances?

People are looking to see if there are real attitude changes within the PAP. They want to know that the PAP will address some of the problems they perceive, like for example the high minister salaries. Nothing has changed there, lackeys are still feeding at the public trough.

1) Tharm gets 3 ministerial positions? Shit, someone should enter him in the Guiness Book of Records for holding the most ministerial positions in the history of a democratic govt. He gets DPM, Minister of Finance and Minister of Manpower. Can we say jack of all trades, master of none. Is the PAP so short of talent that they cannot find capable people to separately run these ministries? Exactly what has Tharm done in his prior job that makes us believe that he can hold down 3 ministerial positions at one time? I can see him holding the Finance portfolio, but Manpower too? He is going to get rich from the 3 paychecks.

2) After all these years, Gay Loong still can't run the place without 5 other ministers in his office? I was looking for him to cut out at least 4 positions in the PMO, and just have one DPM to help him. Instead, he has added one more person. Are they there to make coffee for him or carry his testicles or what?
DPMs X 2 = Tharm and Teo
Minister in the PMO X 2= Lim Swee Say, and Iswaran
Minister of state, PMO = Heng Chee How

3) Apponting people who have no background in their ministry at all seems to be the norm now. Tharm knows something about Manpower? Teo knows something about Home Affairs? Lim Hng Kiang has been recycled so any times, first Minister in the PMO, than Minister of Health, than MND, and now MITI minister? Is he so bad that they just keep moving him aroun instead of letting him go? Bargain Hen, a medical doctor by profession is now Minsiter of defence? Wow, how did that happen. Gan Kim Yong, a trained engineer and former CEO of Natsteel is now Minister for Health? WTF. Why don't u just stick bargain Hen there?

4) What's with people that we have never heard of just a few months ago becoming ministers all of a sudden. I mean these are rookie 9 day old MPs, all of a sudeen can become ministers? What ever became of them having to prove they can serve their constituents first before they can serve the whole country as ministers? Did they miss out a few steps and just pass go and go straight to the minister level? That's just ludicrous.
eg Chan Chin SIng now holds 2 ministerial portfolios after just 9 days in politics? Acting MCYS minister and Minister of state for MICA.
Newbie Heng Swee Keat, this guy has everything to do with money, being ex-MAS chair, perm sec for MITI, etc, but they don't put him in Finance, they stick him in education.
SAme for BGTan, now minister of state for MOM and MND after 9 days in politics too. The list goes on.

How can sinkies still trust this govt. after all these nonsensical appointments. Loong wants to listen to the people? Well the people are telling him to save money and don't need so many damn ministers at multi-million $ a piece. They want him to appoint competent ministers with proven backgrounds in their areas of expertise to run the relevant ministries so that their lives can improve. Poeple want ministerial appointments to make sense.

We Singaporeans would like PM Lee to declare all the MP and minister salaries, pension, etc, in order to gauge their respective ministry on their productivity level.

David Lim

As far as I can see, the shuffling of ministers with ministries in Cabinet ,its more window dressing than mean business.

Tin Pei Ling clearly violates cooling day rules and the police is taking more than 3 days to investigate. Another PAP canvassing violation on cooling day in Moulmein-Kallang was filed and the police is still investigating. In Tin's case, Election dept tai-chi that the police report must be made first. Contrast this with the immediate disqualification when the opposition's breaking of the election rule with just 35 seconds late in the submission of nomination papers.

PM Lee, if you are spying the SDP website, please show the people that you are truely "SORRY" and repentent and is willing to cut out injustice and abuse by the PAP leaders. Can your clean slate new Minister of Home Affairs start proving his worth and your promise of changed attitude to the electorate by getting some urgency in the above investigations. This should be of a grand and serious nature since people get sued till bankrupt or force into exile by PAP leaders just because of election activity. So no more excuses or cover-up please.

The ruling PAP rocked Singapore boat and point the finger at the opposition is just plain slender and i wonder whether the citizens can also sue the PAP leadership accordingly. Consider these points and expect PAP to chnage these related policies to effect positive CHANGE ! Expiring date is 31 December 2015.



With the rapid influx of FTs over the last 5 years came:
1. Dramatic increase in public and private home prices and property tax
2, increased congestion on roads, buses and MRT networks
3. Higher COE
4. An increase in the number of ERP gantries and charges. All escape routes "blocked" by ERP gantry.
5. A drop in market rate for salaries
6. Intense competition, especially from FTs coming from countries where the quality of life and pay is much lower than Singapore's resulting in Singaporeans not getting good paying jobs.
7. Higher health-care costs and means testing
8. Public hospitals giving priority for appointments to full paying patients whilst subsidized patients (Singaporeans) have to wait longer for medical attention.
9. Increased demand for places in schools, polytechnics and universities.
10. Rising education costs
11. Dramatic increase in cost of essential household goods and services like electricity cost etc. etc.
12, Any many more…..including the "downfall" of MBT and RL.

The sudden high demand on goods and services created by the govt's policy of bring in FTs at express rate has lead to current state of affairs that many Singaporeans are not happy with. So, if the govt can now stop (not reduce) the inflow of FTs and send back those FTs now occupying jobs that Singaporeans can do to balance the demand according to available supply plus reverse some of the current policies then we can see some equilibrium in the cost of living. Once the situation has stablised then the govt can resume, but this time slowly (not drastically), bringing in TALENTED foreigners just like what they did when MM was the prime minister. Please salvage the "boat" and don't rock it again.

PM Lee,My citizenry Questions :-
1. What are the salaries & bonus of LKY & GCT as advisors to GIC & MAS ?
2. Are these titles for life and hence will collect these SALARIES FOR LIFE on TOP of their PENSION ?
3. Are GIC & MAS allowed to terminate the needs of advisors or change advisors ?
4. Can GIC & MAS operate & make decisions with their own accountability WITHOUT advisor knowledge or approval ?? Will LKY & GCT as advisors serve more of hampers at times???
Do share openly with NATION !!!

Justin.

The reported changes are very heartfeltly appreciated. All Singaporeans are still awaiting the Prime Minister's and/or his cabinet's comments on the Tin Pei Ling incident/issue, which led to the issue of her questionable competency in a very important elected legislative office. Am I right?

I have nothing against Tin Pei Ling. If she is willing, let us hear from her directly, her solution to the current issue and her refutation to the perception of her questionable competency, without telling us to bear with her, or to bear with her questionable competency. Is she willing to let us hear from her directly?

I am a neutral, concerned elderly citizen. The Prime Minister's and/or his cabinet's comments on and solution to the current Tin Pei Ling issue will serve as a guide on the thinking and concepts that he and/or his cabinet members is/are embracing. How about her perceived questionable competency?

Don't forget, Parliament is a Legislature that has the power to pass laws - important laws. Every Member of Parliament holds one vote of Legislative Power to agree or disagree to pass a law when the need arises. Can Singapore afford to have a legislative member who has questionable competency? I would very much appreciate enlightenment from the Prime Minister and/or his cabinet member(s), or anyone with legislative power or knowledge or expertise or experience. I am sure, most Singaporeans would like to be enlightened as well.

Dear PM Lee,

Much as I applaud your move to make this radical change, even though, only time will tell whether these changes will have any positive impact on the livehihood and happiness of we, Singaporeans, it is my opinion that something is still lacking here, that needs to be addressed NOW.

We are still waiting for answers to TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY on so many issues Singaporeans have raised thus far. So many questions have remained unanswered, whether they are raised by the oppositions during the rallies, or by netizens. Can you please look into this area otherwise, how can we trust that the ruling party is sincere and genuinely wants to make changes for the betterment of our future? As citizens of Singapore who elected you and your team as our government, and as tax payers, don't we have every right to know, how our hard earned monies are used and/or invested? We have trusted PAP for the past few decades, so Is it unreasonable for us to ask for an Audit? What is so difficult for the government to show the citizens the statement of account of YOG, the cost of HDB flats, etc etc???

- We request for an explanation on the high salaries of ministers and the billions lost in investments. -
- We want to put a stop to the influx of foreign "talents" & workers, the people who are not only taking away our places at work, in schools, in transport, in hospitals, but who are also allowed to bring along with them, their parents, grandparents, children......to such an extent that out HDB prices soared to such ridiculous highs.
- We want our CPF back at 55 years old so that we can decide how we want to use our hard earned money/savings. We want to enjoy the fruits of our labour before we step into our coffins, otherwise we can only look forward to the HELL banknotes at every Ching Ming and 7th month ghost festivals.

Mr Lee, Sir, maybe because you never ever had to worry about money ( with your million-dollars salary + bonuses accumulated over so many years), can you ever truly EMPATHISE with the sense of poverty, helplessness and hoplessness of the poor, the sick and the needy? Can you truly SYMPATHISE with the suffering of commoners who are struggling everyday to make ends meet in keeping up with the high cost of living, whereby, everything seems to go higher and higher...that it is becoming so suffocating that living seems to hold no meaning .....

A true leader must have COMPASSION for his/her people.
A true leader must lead his team to have COMPASSION for his/her people.
A true leader must GIVE to his/her people in order that he may receive so that he can give again.

PLEASE BE GENEROUS IN SHARING THE COUNTRY'S WEALTH WITH THE POOR, THE OLD, THE SICK AND THE NEEDY.

Respectfully yours,
just another suffering Singaporean ( sob,sob)

With Lee Kuan Yew recent speech on GIC fierce investment and now he as Advisor, we must be double caution of who really 'rob' our national reserves.

I really thank SDP and Dr Chee to encourage more proactive citizenry here. Thank you and strive harder for pure democracy!


PAP makes transfer of reserves even more secretive
17 May 2004
Released on 12 May 2004

The clarification made by the Finance Ministry on the recent constitutional amendment of the transfer of reserves clarified absolutely nothing.

Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had told Parliament when he introduced the amendment that the Constitution had not allowed reserves to be transfered from the Government to government organizations and businesses without it being considered a draw on the reserves.

In other words, under the previous legislation, if the PAP wanted to transfer reserves from the Government to a GLC it would be considered a draw on the reserves and to draw on the reserves would require the consent of the president and, worse, the public would have to be informed.

In order to avoid making such transfers public knowledge and having to get presidential approval, Mr Lee had sought to change the meaning of the articles in the Constitution to allow such transfers to take place but not have them considered as a draw on the reserves.

It seems a very clever way of unlocking the safe. By saying that such a move to transfer reserves from the Government to a GLC would henceforth not be considered a draw on the reserves, the Government is now free to raid the reserves without getting consent from the president or making it public.

The intention, according to Mr Lee, is to enable the Government to restructure", "merge" or "corporatise government organizations and businesses. In other words the Government wants to draw on our reserves to do business without telling us.

The questions still remain:

With such secret and unchecked movement of the reserves from the Government to statutory boards and GLCs, what is there to prevent abuse and misuse of the funds belonging to Singaporeans?
Is there any provision to ensure that failed businesses are not bailed out?
Is there a limit as to how much funds can be transferred to any one entity?
Who will make the decision to sanction a transfer and to which company?

The amendment gives the Government absolute freedom to do as it pleases. Without a set of clearly defined criteria and a transparent system to ensure that rules and regulations are adhered to, we are looking for trouble - which may not be too hard to find.

Instead of making the system more transparent and accountable in line with global practices under WTO rules, the latest amendment will shield the public even more from the Governments financial dealings.

Not only must Singaporeans be warned of such a dangerous move but foreign investors must also be made aware of the murky way in which the PAP handles corporate matters and seems to have every intention of making it even murkier.

Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party

By right, the PM post should be changed as well. The current PM who is the son of that old man perform badly the last 5 years. Under him even Mas selamat can escape through a toilet's window. Yes it is his family post and nobody can take it from him. After this we would be seeing his sons coming in to rule us as well. Unless the PAP loses its majority 2/3 in 2016 election. We would be forever enslaved by the Lees.

Why should policies be "be significantly different from their predecessors". Dr Chee or his party for that matter doesn't represent the majority of the electorate (60%) who still voted for the PAP, and the 40% who voted for the opposition, wants to have change but I do not believe that that are advocating for MAJOR or significant changes, perhaps only the voters who voted for the SDP. The change in the ministers' portfolio has already shown a step towards change, and we should not hasten changes, just for the sake of having change, for change sake.

"How will the performance and effectiveness of the Government be raised with such lateral movement?"

How will it NOT be raised? There has already been a major revamp... one should not push to the extreme, if the main reason is for the good of the country. Who does CSJ thinks can handle these ministries better? he himself?

I have not heard anywhere in the world where the government have to explain each appointment, especially to an opposition, who has their philosophy at the other extreme of the spectrum according to the recent analysis of a pro-SDP supporter, blogger Alex Au.

"PM Lee Hsien Loong must explain to the people why he has made these appointments and how these posts help in the more effective governing of Singapore."

The appointments have just been announced. Their roles will be clearer in the weeks to come. Why is Dr Chee so impatient? or perhaps he is writing to just show people how well he writes.. I would expect more substance than asking such simple questions. What makes him think that PM Lee will not explain these appointments? Is this an attempt by CSJ to try to then claim credit that - oh, I was the one who asked them to explain.. blah,, blah ... blah..

"Finally, if PM Lee is genuinely contrite and is determined to lead a government that listens to the people, then he will announce an across-the-board reduction in the Ministers’ salaries. The astronomical wages that the Ministers draw, despite the poor performance of the last government, have caused much anger among Singaporeans.

Also, who is Dr Chee to tell PM Lee what to do? genuinely contrite - by CSJ's definition? There have been relatively major changes, not seen since the past decades, which shows that the PM is taking steps to address these. The PM is taking these steps apparently systematically, in listening to Singaporeans, not what CSJ has to say, but what they may have planned to do. Again, it smacks of CSJ trying to take credit to call for a reduction in the ministers' salaries, and then claim again that, oh.. it was again my (CSJ) suggestions.

WP has been more effectvely apparently in winning oppositions with their moderate stand, while addressing the key issues, and without always tyring to claim that.. the idea was theirs.. come on, the PAP may have already thought of it, but have not got around to implementing it.

One thing that came to the fore at the GE2011 was just how much opposition parties had not only wised up to the PAP's elections tricks, but bravely and openly stated what exactly those tricks were.

Yes, Singaporeans in several wards have been fooled that they were voting in a bigwigs, and not exitting ministers, and that's why they cast their votes the way they did. Indeed, didn't the PAP campaign by invoking the fear of losing the foreign minister, a second minister and a potential speaker of the House in Aljunied to drive homw their point?

And the PAP knew about at least some of their ministers' intentions to resign - perhaps that is just a face-saving excuse - well before the elections, but devised this as a way of deceiving Singaporeans about who they were actually voting in:

http://www.straitstimes.com/GeneralElection/News/Story/STIStory_670289.html

[Quote]

"Two years ago, I had expressed to PM Lee my desire to step aside at the end of the last term, but was asked to stay on to fight the elections."

[Endquote]

Well, we can wise up to this latest PAP elections trick. If the current trajectory of dissent against the PAP keeps up by the next elections, opposition parties can challenge the PAP to reveal at the GE2016 campaigns, which of its ministers running in the GRCs the party would be planning to retire immediately after elections, after trying to instill the fear in voters that they would lose "experienced and competent ministers" if they voted out another of the PAP's GRC teams.

I believe that the new Minister of Jamban, Vivian Balakhrishnan's job is on the line. (Nice to see that him relegated to the gutter where he belongs.) His track record since he entered politics was that he was mind-bogglingly rotated from one position to another, but the tendency towards demoting him is quite evident.

He's the next minister to take down; Singaporeans are likely to lose him immediately after the next elections, anyway, so there is absolutely no loss to Singapore.

@soojenn, get up to speed with your understanding of political theory and practise.

You say that the SDP is, 'an opposition that has its philosophy at the other extreme of the spectrum'.

Go back and read that same analysis that you refer to - I did! - because Alex Au mentioned the SDP is the only perfectly centrist party in Singapore.

At the same time, the PAP was correctly depicted as the extremist party that it is with the WP approximating dangerously closely.

But I suppose you would have a need to placate yourself by distorting the facts. If you don't support the SDP but any of the other parties that gravitate towards the extremism that Alex Au wrote about, then you would have to comfort yourself that you too are "centrist" = "moderate" = "not extremist" = "normal" = "acceptable".

Well, I'm going to shatter your self-delusion: You ARE an extremist because you don't support a "perfectly-centrist party" but find extremist and/or near-extremist parties acceptable and support them instead.

This looks like it was in the 80's where LKY talks about - yes, the same magic word that Singaporeans can so easily be fooled by - CHANGE ! And Continuity.

And did anything change?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEcIsRo-m0A

And then there was Remaking Singapore. And then there was Singapore 21. And then there was...

Well, you get the drift.

Another minister that is going to lose his job is Khaw boon wan for being the housing minister. Let see how is he going to reduce the High cost of HDB flats. Will he say Singapore is too expensive to live and will he suggest to us to live in JB, Batam or Bintan? I want my $8 COV.

If these are Lee Hsien Loong's first steps to reform, I'm afraid that it has already gotten off to a bad start.

First, on the point that is most talked about: Voters in the GRCs, along with other Singaporeans, that Goh Chok Tong, Raymond Lim, Wong Kan Seng and Mah Bow Tan contested in feeling cheated because they were led to believe that Singapore would lose the at-least-one minister in their GRC should they vote for the opposition party in that ward. I know for a fact that voters are in fact swayed to vote for the PAP in GRCs BECAUSE of this fear. Or why would the PAP strategize to field at least one minister in each GRC?

Then, there is Goh Chok Tong's resignation from the cabinet which should strip him of the title of "minister" - along with whatever is appended to that title - and later re-appointment as Emeritus Senior "Minister"; yet he remains out of cabinet, if this can be taken as the official word on the matter.

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/pdf/20110518/Annex%20B%20-%20Cabinet%20and%20Other%20Office%20Holders.pdf

So what is it: Is Goh Chok Tong in the cabinet or is he not?

if he is not, as we have been led to believe, I do have to wonder about the legal implications of any use of "minister" to describe someone who is a backbencher. (The suspicious side of me wonders if this move could have anything to do with the police report lodged against Tin Pei Ling, either her or her whole GRC team's disqualification, and subsequent by-election in Marine Parade; backbencher Goh Chok Tong's "minister" title could then come in useful in garnering votes.)

Finally, with the turfing of an unprecendeted number of ministers, I wonder why the most obvious sacking has not taken place, that of Lee hsien Loong himself. After all, it was under his watch that the ruling party messed up big.

Or is Lee Hsien Loong as prime minister as preordained as an heir apparent's ascension to the throne is?

Agree...Li Hong Yi will be the next PM after either Teo Chee Hean or even Tharman...sometime in 2020.

It's rather pathethic to learn of Singaporeans being unaware of their own political culture, and to a certain extent being naive, so much so that the PAP ruling over the generations had fully exploited and exterminated their own citizens, to a current sorry state of affairs, and continuing to do so after GE' 2011, with no positive light in sight.

Well, with campaigning by PAP in the past as MY SINGAPORE MY HOME, TOWARDS SWISS STANDARD OF LIVING, TOWARDS WORLD CLASS SINGAPORE etc.....has made-believe Singaporeans till now, without ever feeling or tasting the REAL success of economics, EXCEPT the PAP and it's cronies itself. What a great pity!

To sum-up all, it seems PAP will still continue their usual propagandas, and the poor Singaporeans will still continue to make-believe, trust and suffer with all their atrocities, as well as, with no ends in sight, except the only way out is for the citizens to migrate to a greener pastures, perhaps to neighbouring Malaysia at best, which would rather bring-in as 'SINGAPORE LIKE' culture, instead to an alien state.

Nevertheless, hope Singaporeans will start awaken this time, instead of being mesmerised or hypnotised by the PAP, thinking as without PAP, Singapore is dead and end, with no life beyond.

WELL MAY GOD BLESS ALL TRUE BORN SINGAPOREANS!

Whatever title is given to any national servant matter little to commoner like me who just slaving to earn $2400 permonth to feed 4 mouths and service those blood sucking HDB policy and profiteering public transportation systems islanwide. As an ordinary citizen of this country, i just want and need a real politically corruptionfree and honest government to serve the nation and share all the wealth(if there is still any in the reserves) with all respected citizens regardless of race, religion inclination and political party membership. Period.

How can Lee HLoong demote or 'sack' himself? Only thru the pure democracy of one citizen one vote system and people power !

What extreme political vision spectrum we like to insinuate about SDP or any other political party unless one learn the real history of how each political party come about and how the leaders came into power; real true history give real perspective and motive of each respective political party in our island.

Keep blooging and keep challenging for truth and keep voters update with the 'top' secrets of yesteryears and future. SDP is transforming the mind and heart of Singaporeans voters , like it or not, for i am just one little voice convinced of SDP stand in the right side of Singapore history.

Right on......pure democracy can only promote right living in our midst of constant change. I like all the comments above.

@Robox, You say "Go back and read the same analysis that you refer to - I did! - because Alex Au mentioned the SDP is the only perfectly centrist party in Singapore."

I went back to re-read! Alex Au illustration in the chart, shows that -

* SDP is leaning extreme towards Socialist and Liberal Values (left top quadrant)
* RP is leaning towards Liberal Values and Free Market/Capitalist (right top quadrant)
* NSP is leaning towards Socialist and conservative values (left bottom quadrant)
* PAP is leaning towards Free Market/Capitalist and Conservative (right bottom quadrant)
* WP is leaning is closest to the centre in the Free Market/Capitalist and Conservative


Alex's analysis: extracted from his blog
In the way the SDP’s position is the furthest from the PAP’s.
The Workers’ Party is closest to the centre of gravity.

Where in Alex's blog did he mention that "SDP is the only erfectly centrist party in Singapore"? From his chart, it appears that WP is closet to the centre, not SDP?

"who has their philosophy at the end of the spectrum..." SDP is at the other extreme of the spectrum from the PAP which is what I meant, using Alex's chrt as the basis of this statement, if this is not evident to you.

I wonder who has the need to "placate yourself by distorting the facts".

Also, please try not to generalise that people who post differing views are not supporters of the SDP or categorize them. Are you trying to imply that people who post differing views cannot be supporters of SDP?

i have differnt views and i am not SDP member but I support their manifesto and vision for this nation. Period.

I am so "proud" of The Prime Minister.I envisaged that this change will cause the hell out of the PAP.It is a unbalanced cabinet.Each minister are holding 2 or even 3 ministries.I don't think they can be focus at all,and once again the people feedbacks are just like waste in the dustbin.By the end of their service,I think all these ministers will have more grey hairs than Goh Chok Tong and Chiam See Tong combined.I don't think these ministers will be alive to enyoy their high salaries.How pathethic!

Unless, some strong forces demand the newbie to explicitly put forth new proposals to re-engineer the policies within each ministry to achieve a 10% increase in productivity and 20% in cost-savings annually ; there is no real change in the renewal - SAME CIVIL SERVICE PRACTICES!

Hi All,

My best estimate of Construction Cost for a No-Frill Outskirt HDB flat should be below $150 per sq ft. So, a 900 sq ft 4 Room should cost around $120 000 - depending on fixtures, fittings , quality of materials etc and how HDB price the Land/ Air Space Content.

By the way, the median construction cost of a New Motel in the US constructed by certified builders is about US$165 per square foot. Our HDB are constructed by Bangla and Chinese low-cost workers with Bangla Site Supevisor been paid only S$1500 per month about.

My guess, they make about 100% or more depending on location.

There is another unknown - How Many Clerk-of-work each Project deployed. Long-term safety issues were not transparent to citizens of Singapore. How long is the warranty of foundation and building structures, sewer system etc...

SDP should push for No-frill Housing at BELOW $100K!
It is possible if you could gathered a socially-responsible team comprising of architect, civil engineers, chartered quantity surveyors, lawyers, city planners, interior designers, accountant and construction site foreman, builder , tradesmen etc. if given a piece of land to build if been challenged by the Pay-and-Pay.

Good Luck!

@soojenn:

Read the comments section of the article you are referring to, then come back and talk. And bear in that mind that the PAP is not the yardstick against which we measure other parties and label them; only the objective criteria in academia will do.

i don't see any changes

no renewal in leadership...

GST still 7%

COE is $50,000

peak hrs..traffic jam

http://comment.straitstimes.com/showthread.php?t=44660&page=6

after following those posts, the header should read "The debt MM Lee owe the people", especially those detained under ISA by the ISD. Will this man ever say sory like his son did? i wonder the proverb can be reversed: like father like son - like son like father?

The end of the PAP is 2016 for sure. Just 2 weeks after election, they make a huge blunder with the Maid death in water tank Woodlands issue. Nobody in Singapore will trust their Town council again. They are not interested in taking care of us at all. They are finish. Water tank can be accessed by bangla worker yeah right. Oh I forget to lock the rooftop door. Nice answer but it will finish you off. Even Kwah dare not visit that flat. Angry residents will spread. Emotion run high.

In order for the lower income SINGAPOREAN to have a better quality of life, the pap govt. MUST introduce the minimum income wages of S$1200 pm.This will also prevent the UNPATRIOTIC employers from discriminating their own countrymen.The local employers must also have the sense of PATRIOTISM to the true SINGAPOREAN.To the pap govt this is their OBLIGATION not consideration.

The papgovt must control the intake of PMET. They must also introduce the quota for the intake of PMET. This will allow our true Singaporeans to get back the jobs that morally belongsto them. Please remember we are your master and not your slaves. We hope to get back the dignity that we have lost because of the so called incompetence FT policy.

I would like to propose to the papgovt that the quota for PMET in all areas to be 70 percent Singaporean and 30 percent FT.

In order to clear all this mess created by the papgovt I propose that they should stop taking in new citizen and pr NOW!!!. Singapore is too small to absorb these foreign workers. We need to maintainthe population of maximum 5 millions to preserve the comfort and quality of life that we use to enjoy before. Please dont make our country like a can of sardines. We needSPACE!!! And FRESH AIR!!!

This so called incompetence FT policy is comparableto the proverb saying "Prefer to milk monkeys in the jungle, but own children died of starvation". Singaporean Talent FirsT Policy!!!

The cpf minimum sum scheme is outdated and should be replaced with a more dynamic scheme. Its crazy because the persons have to wait until the age of 65 years old to get the monthly payment. The govt shpuld revert it back to 55 years old and how about tie in with the insurance company to accomodate for the pension scheme. In this way the cpf member will get his cpf minus the premium need to be paid to the insurance company. In this way he can retire at 55 years old and enjoy the quality of life during his old age. He doesnt need to pick up cardboards or clean the tables at the coffee shops and etc. This will solve all the problems for the old age which we are now facing.

In order to avoid DISASTER and uphold our DIGNITY the floodgate must be closed. Stop giving PR and taking in newcitizen. We only need them as a guest worker only tp fullfill our economy requirments. Wedont need them to be part of us. Singapore citizenship is not cheapand not kacangputeh. As you can see now that some of them are ungrateful scums. We dont need scums and bast.... . We need professionals andpeople with high intellectual and people who knows how to be grateful and humble. We Have Survived And We Will Survive. Singaporean Most Talented!!!

We should be selective In giving out Singapore Citizenship and PR. Priority given toProfessional of married spouse and professionals who are commited toSingapore and not 'opportunists'.the intake should be 'minimal'. Singapore Citizenship is Priceless and not kacangputeh or candies to be given out freely. We only need guest workers for our economic requirements, not more than that. Because this country belongs to TRUE BLUE SINGAPOREANS not pap.

The ministers salary is absurd and ridiculous. Yet many
Sigaporeans are earning below $1000 per month. If President Obama the world super power is earning US40,000 per month, thisis the yardstick for the ministers salary. Gerard Ee so dont play around the bush but be rational and practical.