The Singapore Democrats will release our shadow budget tomorrow, 22 February 2012 at a press conference to be held at the party office at 12A Jalan Gelenggang at 4 pm. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
We published
Shadow Budget 2011 to highlight the deficiencies and misprioritization of our national expenditure by the PAP Government. This year’s shadow budget, again led by Dr Vincent Wijeysingha, will again provide an alternative expenditure plan for our nation.
Entitled
Shadow Budget 2012: Securing Our Future, the document will allow Singaporeans the chance to look at a different – and better – model of expending our state funds. We do this because we strive to live up to our ideal of being a constructive and intelligent opposition party.
As in 2011, party treasurer Dr Wijeysingha, the principal author, will present Shadow Budget 2012. At a glance the Shadow Budget proposes a stark shift away from the PAP’s spending priorities – away from the emphasis on defence spending to a more reasonable plan to invest in and look after, other aspects of our society.
For example, we have emphasized on the need to beef up our healthcare expenditure where we propose a $12 billion budget per year with the government shouldering the main bulk of the costs. The SDP will spell out in detail funding for our National Healthcare Plan which will be unveiled in the near future.
Even though the PAP Government has made some adjustments to its expenditure estimates in this year’s Budget in favour of more social spending, it is still far from getting its priorities right. The emphasis is still very much skewed towards the rich, leavng the poor as burdened as ever.
Shadow Budget 2012: Securing Our Future will address the gaps and problems in the Government’s Budget and present to Singaporeans a considered and sensible alternative budget. They will have an idea of what a Budget that is geared towards their well-being looks like.