The government has done what it needs to do through the GST offsets, the Resilience Package and the many schemes which Singapore has in the Budget and off the Budget, in order to help people in the ways which would help them to help themselves – keep their jobs, find new jobs and help their families.
PM Lee urges citizens to do their best to get through downturn together
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@48) For Show on June 23rd, 2009 4.05 pm
Same experience couple of weeks back at my old estate — surprised that participants arrived by busloads, considering the estate is small and everywhere within walking distance. Asked parents and neighbours, but nobody recognise anyone in the group! During VIP/MP speech, a bunch of supporters were screaming and prompting the crowd when to clap, etc.
Anyway, agree with 49) to give such organizers credit. Probably trucked all the people from an old folks home for a “half-day excursion”, free refreshment, chance of MP kissing them, photo shoots, (oh yeah, free T-shirts), etc. Old folks happy, organizers happy, (residents blur).Two birds & 1 blur pigeon with one stone. Sleek.
“Same experience couple of weeks back at my old estate — surprised that participants arrived by busloads, considering the estate is small and everywhere within walking distance. Asked parents and neighbours, but nobody recognise anyone in the group!”
these “part-time actors and actresses” are being circulated around the island for such events to make up the “strong support”. and sometimes this is zoomed into the tube of your living room as news (media management) giving you a slow and gradual conditioning of the support that they have.
@51) part-time actors and actresses on June 23rd, 2009 6.21 pm
U mean like the professional criers at funerals? Maybe this is one way of creating part-time employment. Innovative, yah?
Re: “….in order to help people in the ways which would help them to help themselves – keep their jobs, find new jobs and help their families….”
“U mean like the professional criers at funerals? Maybe this is one way of creating part-time employment. Innovative, yah?”
aiyoh, i do not know of any better way to say it. But it is so ‘professionally’ managed and it has worked ‘so well’ to their advantage all these years.
as for help, it does have its share of genuine desperate takers who are left with no choice but to accept whatever help that is available. another opportunity for photo taking and story writing ? the problem is that media visibility is too skewed in favour of one side for them to tell their side of the story.
sometimes even doing our best is not enough, simply because there is limits to what many can do, as opposed to how much the “some” can do.
the president’s unjustified salary can feed a third world country for a year
He can be PM as long as he wants to. Hope there is no relapse of his cancer. Otherwise we lose a good leader. We can’t afford to lose him because it is not easy to find another local talent like him in tiny Singapore. Sorry foreigners not eligible to be PM even if you are talented, unlike in Temasek Holdings where they can be MD.
Reading all the Comments in this Thread makes me feel very sad and shameful.
Shameful due to the shamelessness of some actings of my fellow countrymen, either to project a false image or in helping to create that false image. These SINFUL and SINNING ACTS justify the SIN of our Country so divinely named.
patriot
“We can’t afford to lose him because it is not easy to find another local talent like him in tiny Singapore.”
Right ! We cannot lose him after all where else in the world can we a talented gahmen and his noble family who lose billions of tax-money and still pretending nothing has happened and now finding more ways to squeeze and milk more blood from the citizens.
It is said that Emperor Nero burnt the city with fire while still playing instrument
“Rumors soon arose accusing the Emperor Nero of ordering the torching of the city and standing on the summit of the Palatine playing his lyre as flames devoured the world around him.”
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/rome.htm
Well, our Emperor family even greater than Emperor Nero and more senile, burning unprecedent billions of taxmoney and reserves while still eating shark fin and mee siam mai hum.
“very true; i once met a few busloads of folks attending an MP Walkabout in the East and inquired where they were from. The Answer, they were from Marsiling.”
With PAP MP , it is legal gathering. But with opp party MP, it is illegal gathering. What a double standard.
I may be shamelessly flirting armourously in the Net, however I feel that acting to mislead fellow Singaporeans is more shameful than me, it is sinful as well.
Hope KopitiamApek will contribute some views here.
His A Team should do something useful, like rent a hawker store and sell food to raise funds for charity. Food like mee siam mai hum, sure long queue one.
What I understand from…these helping hands coming from different directions…
They are giving out goody bags, ang pows and also financial assistance.
But why doesn’t this happen in a formal way…like 1 agency doing the required job…..
Like this Heartstring….lah…Jln Kayu Helping Hand lah…and CDC’s, East West North….
The reason, I can think off is that they don’t really want to account for the Total number of people who are in Need.
And another reason these grassroots people usually RC’s popping up everywhere and offering help and money makes people belief that the PAP…MP is the one giving out all these money…when it is actually the tax payers and from the Ministry…budgeted to provide assistance.
Best is to form a proper organisation and provide structured assistance…to the entire family, then this current way.
So that everyone gets equal amount and there won’t be duplications.
And those coming for assistance don’t need to feel unconfortable as well.
LHL…if you want people to band togather… be as one….perhaps this is a good approach.
And…people, I heard some of these MP’s are giving money out from their own pockets as well….some ..only some for their residents.
Don’t know where Singapore is heading economically….
thank god for derivatives…and for some fools who didn’t get it…but thought they.
did….
May We Live in Interesting Times.
Quote: May We Live in Interesting Times
Yes indeed, where Singapore is one of the few countries that has multi-billions government organising ROADSHOW once in a while. Especially when the people are getting frustrated with them or nearing a election.
“The government has done what it needs to do … ”
My ass! The gahmen can do much more:
- reduce CPF
- stop importing China workers and hookers
- remove TV and radi license fees
- remove water-borne fee
- remove GST on essential groceries and public services
- lower water, gas and electricity tariffs
- not spend money integrating Foreign Trash
- employ local daily-rated workers for conservancy services and not outsource to companies employing Bangladeshi workers
Kingfisher: “In the original report, the ghost of Wee Siew Kim has reappeared. For those who have forgotten him,he was the one whose daughter made the one-liner famous: Get out of my elitist !”
She not so elitist anymore. Nw sewing costumes for angmoh wannabe actors. See http://www.dolphin.upenn.edu/players/Urinetown.html , 9th line from bottom. Picking up essential wayang skills, from the looks of it.
@62) prettyplace on June 24th, 2009 1.28 am
Giving out goody bags and ang pows is not a bad thing, provided it is with good & genuine intent. I don’t want to mislead anyone (as some are saying of others, and they could be right), but do you consider the upgrading of HDB a “formal” way? I mean, upgrade 4-5 blocks, stop, wait 4 years, elections, then start/stop again with another 4-5 blocks. Logically, can’t they just continuously upgrade the estate throughout the intermediate 4 years? Look around and see how fast a brand new govt-linked building can be put up, all stops pulled.
@63) RED-man on June 24th, 2009 1.43 am
It is doing a Falklands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War). Mark, this year NDP will be spectacular, never mind the recession. In meantime, everyone has forgotton the debate as to why the national stadium is still usable & yet millions was used to create the largest floating stage in the world.
aiyoyo
in terms of ‘goodies’ elites given out,
on the other hand, not sure how much $ commoners already paid upfront???
another lunch time discussion topic; raining soon got to run…
aiyoyo
64) Talk is Cheap on June 24th, 2009 9.43 am
of course the gomin can do more.
But we have no MP power to push for our demands for improvement.
But no worries, that 80 inside will help wan.
U trust me right?
ERP hikes causing prices to soar to NEW hikes. Its crazy but some of the prices rose like 40%. When asked why, they said prices different from last year, rentals and ERPs go up and up, so no choice.
Can TOC calculate how much is made from these ERP gantries on a monthly basis and how much impact on living cost?
How is singapore pools revenue and expenditure accounted?
must be lots of money there. monopolistic some more. I wan leh.
Giving us a small handout, then increasing the cost of living relentlessly, & that’s supposed to be helping us?
Creating unemployment problems for locals in the 1st place through mass import of cheap foreign labor that local bosses favor, & then claiming to “solve” the problem with useless schemes or empty advice?
His claims are more twisted than A & W’s curly fries!
Come next election, we’ll be singing “na na na na. na na na na. hey-ey-ey. goodbye!” to him!
the election department started handing out letters to “draft” staffers for that big day liao…
“Giving us a small handout, then increasing the cost of living relentlessly, & that’s supposed to be helping us?”
It is so predictable of this gov. Increase the price of everything, next come out wayang programme to say that if public face problem, seek help in the programme.
PM Lee,
Why not you and your clowns cut own pay to $100,000 a year together with your bunch of good-for-nothing father, SM, ministers ,and craps, and citizens will urge the gahmen to do their best to get through downturn together ?
lets just face it, theres no difference in politics betw spore & anywhere else, so lets just lower our pride on pap & feel better about everyday, its not gonna change even if pap lose ge, the same guys will still rule behind the scene
75) toiletmatter on June 25th, 2009 11.09 pm
its not gonna change even if pap lose ge, the same guys will still rule behind the scene
Dear toiletmatter,
Maybe we should count ourselves lucky that japanese and german did not win ww2. Maybe we should see it as coincidence that cars, mobile phone, airplane etc are just thing that dropped from the sky to make our life easier.
I mean, by the way you put it, everyone might as well point the gun on our head and pull the trigger.
If our fore-father have the thinking like yours, we might just a subject of British Empire right now. Way to go man… That’s the spirit!
High time PM Lee walk the talk. Don’t tell us what to do, but show us what he is doing.
Let’s start by reducing his humongous salary. If I have just one percent of his salary I would have no problem doing what he says.