The Rhetoric
“The price of good government is $34 million a year – or the cost of five plates of char kway teow per citizen. Has the performance of my Government justified its wage? Has my Government given you safe homes, stable jobs and fuel to dream of all the tomorrows?”
– (Then) PM Goh Chok Tong urging Singaporeans to accept pay increases for Ministers and political office holders, July 1, 2000The Reality
“Unemployment rate among the working population living in HDB flats had increased from 4.9 per cent in 1998 to 7.8 per cent in 2003.”
– Straits Times citing a HDB survey, Jun 21, 2005“More and more Singaporeans are working past the age of 65 as they lack retirement funds. A survey of 1,140 people aged 40 to 59 years showed only one in three felt they had enough to retire on. Another one in three planned to downgrade to a smaller home to make up for their shortfall in retirement funds. Frighteningly, almost four in 10 said they were counting on luck, in the form of a Toto or 4D windfall, to bankroll their retirement.”
– Straits Times, Dec 18 2004