Singapore Democrats

Singapore Democrats

From time to time we post and respond to letters from our readers.

This batch of letters include a wide range of issues ranging from ministerial salaries to foreign students in Singapore. We welcome your letters and even though we may not be able to reply to all of them, we are grateful that you have written and assure you that we will note their content.

Ministerial salaries

Hi, SDP,

I would like to point up some facts. I might be mistaken though.

Simply tabling up the top 30 salaries alone adds up to approximately $75 million. This figure excludes their bonuses, allowances, pensions and what-nots.

Assuming a ballpark figure of $200 million/annum required for paying their salary, that would effectively require 222,222 tax-payers with a taxable income of $40,000 simply to upkeep them.

A taxable income of $40,000 pays $900 in income taxes yearly.

If we estimate that 0.5 million out of 2.5 million Singaporeans have a taxable income of at least $40,000 (very optimistic estimate), it means that close to 50% of Singaporean taxpayers are needed to merely sustain their salaries!

I'm assuming the taxes paid by PRs should be considered negligible after factoring in the cost of perks extended to them.

According to IRAS:

“THEY make up just 0.4 per cent of resident taxpayers – but account for a hefty one-quarter of net personal income tax payable.

In all, 3,799 residents, a surge from the 2,751 in the previous year, declared an annual income of above $1 million for Year of Assessment (YA) 2008.

Their net tax payable? $1.36 billion, or more than what’s payable by some 830,000 resident taxpayers who make $150,000 or less a year.

As for the biggest group of taxpayers, the 193,387 with declared income of $30,000 to $40,000, they were liable for net personal taxes of just $38 million, after tax credits and rebates.”

The biggest group of taxpayers (193,387) only has a declared income of $30,000 to $40,000, or taxes of just $38 million. This is definitely insufficient to pay the government their salaries.

Their paymasters can't be from the majority of Singaporean taxpayers, which might be why they are more inclined towards the well-being of large corporations/high net-worth individuals.

I'm no economist but perhaps someone from your team might be able to come up with a financial picture of Singapore Incorporated?

Owning a car takes away a large chunk of Singaporean's disposable income where a HDB takes away the non-disposable part (CPF).

Terry

Are there racial overtones in judgements?

Hi,

The reason I'm writing to u is because I feel quite disturbed about some recent cases about court judges handing out harsh punishment on Malays and lenient to Chinese.

I'm not being racist or trying to create disharmony, but the reality is true that u can see it in the papers. I'll give you recent examples of the cases:

A 16-yr-old malay girl was jailed 4 years after pleading guilty to charges relating to loan shark activities. A 22-yr-old malay man was given 4 years jail n 12 strokes of the cane.

The David vs Goliath case where the Chinese man was found guilty of attacking with intent to cause grevious hurt with a chopper and receive only a $1,000 fine.

Three Chinese men age 19-20 years old found guilty of murder of an 18-yr-old man was being assesed for probation or reformative training instead of jail and caning. I can guarantee 100% if you can dig up further you'll see more of this sort of cases where the sentence is being favoured to the Chinese and harsh on the Malays.

I hope that you can help bring this up, maybe in a more tasteful manner, as I feel the authorities can look into it and be fairer in judgement regardless of someone's race or religion.

Singapore can't go that way to favour the majority race as we have created a religious harmony living environment and a good example for other countries. I hope that you give a serious look into this matter. Thank you.

Redz

Is Government favouring foreign students?

Hello SDP,

I am an engineering student in NTU. I have been visiting your website regularly, as I look forward to alternative news that mainstream media does not publish.

I was doing reseach on acing scholarship interviews when I suddenly stumbled upon this website
http://www.siascholarship.com/index.php
What surprises me is that it's our own local institutions providing free scholarships to Indian students to study in Singapore.

Please note that I have nothing against foreign students. We are after all human beings. My concern is why are we "punishing" our own people by making them pay for their own education. Even with government subsidy, it is still not enough, honestly.

The money (largely our taxpayers money) could have been better spent to develop our people. Yet, we are throwing it at people whose loyalty is in question.

If it were private institutions, we need not worry so much. But here, the institutions involved are SIA and MOE!

I am also quite disappointed with the situation that is happening in my university. Apart from the political apathy, I begin to wonder if we are really a world class university.

The university's emphasis has shifted very much into research. It may not seem much, but professors who are good in teaching are compromised. This eventually leads to poor quality teaching and in a way, the quality of the degree.

I have heard arguments that we are of poorer stock or whatsoever. The thing is, just because our forefathers were coolies, we are condemned.

Mr Ng

MOM, are you aware of the jobless rate in Singapore?

Hi Dr Chee and Family,

I know for the past years you and your family have been suffering. As a Singaporean, I believe you have aroused some attention. 

I am currently jobless like lots of Singaporean yet MOM still continuously bring in more immigrants.

Dr Vivian has mentioned that bringing in more FT will create more jobs for Singaporean. So is there some hidden agenda? Now Singaporean are jobless?

Yet the immigrants are holding well paying jobs. Is this a strange scenario? Are all jobless Singaporean choosy as it is always mentioned by the Ministers?

They brought in immigrants because Singaporeans do not want to do and cannot do what the immigrants can do or are they trying to dilute voting rights.

I know you are under tremendous financial stress like most of us.

What worries me now is the PAP has some hidden agenda that we do not know.

Anyway, hope you and your family win this coming elections.

My advice to you. Avoid those constituency that has lots of immigrants as their life style has improved since they left their home town. Go to a town where there are lots of local. 

Trust me.

Complain MOM

Singapore Democrats doing the right thing

Dear Singapore Democrats, 

I was attending a seminar on leadership and the movie, BraveHeart by Mel Gibson, was used as an example.

In one of the scene, Sir William Wallace has just been knighted, but the clans and the nobles can't agree on who is more important and who deserves the lands and priviledges of a victory in battle. Wallace take a stand, confronting their wrong view of leadership.

He became a thermostat for Scotland rather than a thermometer.

Wallace is really a man of principle. He tells the nobles, "There's a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom." He has put his finger on the purpose of a lord or a king worthy of respect.

The king's mission is to govern and to lead the people. But he is to do it with integrity and compassion.

This is very much lacking in Singapore's politics.

I really don't know why the PAP spent so much money on election (putting up posters, redrawing boundaries, etc), when they expect the results to be ruled in favour of them. I really don't know what constitution they are following. They set their own rules and regulations.

There is actually no democracy, but foul play and wayang only. And it's all about creating a climate of fear in Singaporeans.

As I read yoursdp, one thing I can conclude: "You are doing the right thing for future generations."

PWC

Sick and tired of PAP and HDB

Dear SDP,

I have seen your work at other parts of Singapore. Please come over Bedok and FengSan area to help us citizen.

We are sick and tired of the irresponsible PAP and HDB, for years, refusing to address issues of petty crimes, rubbish collection lousy HDB upgrading and worst, lot of motor bike gangs problem.

Using the law to enforce us citizen to pay for their nonsense, we have had enough!

To hell with the PAP.

J Miah

Foreign students increase pressure at local universities

Hi!

I'm really impressed with what SDP has done in terms of collating the facts & figures of our nation's decline in growth. Indeed, the world is always more complex than what it seems and media coverage in Singapore is restricted.

Another issue that is not mentioned, and I felt that it's worth highlighting is that the government is also attracting foreign talents into local universities. It is a common perception in local universities that the foreign influx, notably from China and India are topping the bell-curves in local universities. Such a move has resulted in local students "escaping" to overseas universities to avoid the stress even though they are the crème de la crème.

Personally, I know of a friend, who is also my Basketball team-mate who managed to secure 4As & 1S Distinction in the A Levels, but she chose to go abroad for further studies (without scholarship). This is analogous to the scenario mentioned in the workforce, that people are constantly 'upgrading' their skills in order to secure their jobs, and that people are emigrating to other countries. Perhaps, a policy on restricting the no. of foreign students & foreign workers could work out on a feasible plan.

Also, I am quite certain that gaining attention from the students in the local universities such as newspaper publications, where students are capable and resourceful enough to find out information for themselves (using online tools such as Facebook) and debate on the current situation, improvements will soon be made to the current political-economic.

Before one can fully support a party, one should at least know what are the future plans by the party. Since the PAP government has done blunders in investments, citizens should have the right to vote for a party to take up the investment risk process. Therefore, even though SDP does not have a financial backing, I hope that citizens can see the light before the next elections.

In addition, I suggest that capable leaders from various institutions should gather and participate in a seminar to discuss on the future of Singapore. Furthermore, I hope the future leaders of SDP are selected based on meritocracy & democracy, to avoid history repeating, i.e. the monopoly of the Lee family.

I hope the feedback is constructive and I will render my support to the SDP (after knowing her future plans). I can be contactable via this email address.

Tiffany

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