During elections:
“Shared prosperity will remain a cornerstone of our New Singapore.”
– PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Oct 20, 2001
After elections:
“A Department of Statistics (DOS) report last year showed income inequality has crept up over the years. Overall, average monthly incomes have risen: from $3,076 in 1990 to $4,943 in 2000. But incomes at the top rose, while incomes at the bottom declined. In 2000, incomes for the top 10 per cent of resident households grew 8.8 per cent, while incomes for the bottom 10 per cent of wage-earning households shrank 13.6 per cent. This shrinkage would have been even greater – 54.1 per cent – if households with no wage earners had been included. The Gini coefficient – which measures income disparity in a society – hovered around 0.44 in the 1990s, but expanded to 0.481 in 2000, showing a rising income gap.”
– Chua Mui Hoong, political columnist, Straits Times, Aug 4, 2003
“If we want to have successful entrepreneurs, Singaporeans have to accept a greater income disparity between the successful and the not so successful.”
– SM Lee Kuan Yew, Ho Rih Hwa public lecture, Feb 5, 2002