Singapore Democrats
Shadow Budget 2011: Empowering the Nation is a ground-breaking document. It is the first time in Singapore’s political history that an opposition party is presenting an alternative to the government’s financial policy for the year ahead.
Past Budgets have mis-prioritised the needs of the nation and allocated expenditure that, through the years, built an economic structure that severely disabled the entrepreneurial class while keeping Singaporean workers’ income levels unacceptably low.
The mismanagement of the economy by the PAP has resulted in HDB prices skyrocketing to beyond what the people can afford. Our elderly have to clean toilets just to earn enough money to survive. Singaporeans have to travel to Malaysia for find affordable healthcare and buy cheaper medicines. Youth gang violence has exploded and so has vice. And after more than half-a-century of hardwork and sacrifice we are now told that without foreigners we cannot make our economy work.
Just how has the PAP’s past Budgets helped the people and society?
The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) presents
Shadow Budget 2011 to address the many budgetary failures of the PAP Government. Unlike the PAP’s there are no ‘goodies’ in our budget because goodies are given only to sweeten the poison.
We make specific proposals in the Shadow Budget with this singular objective: To provide ordinary Singaporeans the wherewithal and genuine assistance to live in security and dignity, and to develop themselves to compete with other peoples of the world.
Among our proposals are:
- Lower the cost of living including abolishing the GST for basic foodstuffs and medicines, reducing utility rates and lowering public transport fares.
- Introduce the Singaporeans First Policy where businesses are required to demonstrate that the skills they seek are not available in the domestic workforce before they are eligible to employ non-Singaporeans.
- Reduce teacher : student ratio in our classrooms to 1 : 20 and introduce school psychologists and counsellors for all schools.
- Abolish tuition grants for foreign students and reduce fees by 50% for our local students at the tertiary level.
- Increase government spending for healthcare and the number of hospital beds by 25%.
- Increase Public Assistance for the poorest of our poor.
Dismantle Temasek Holdings and divest its companies; transfer management of GIC to an independent body - Pay full-time National Servicemen the recommended minimum wage of $1,200 a month as the basic allowance.
- Trim the bloated cabinet by removing the posts of MM, SMs, DPMs and Ministers without portfolios.
- Reduce the PM’s salary to $60,000 per month from the present $300,000 per month. Other ministers’ salaries will be cut proportionately.
The PAP’s scheme is to force Singaporeans into a condition of dependence upon it as a dispenser of ‘privileges’ so that it can continue to wield political and economic control. The government’s Budget this year will be no different from previous Budgets in that it will continue to constrain and coerce the people.
Shadow Budget 2011, on the other hand, empowers our nation.
The entire Shadow Budget 2011: Empowering the Nation can be downloaded here.
Read also:
Budget to benefit Singaporeans? Look again