Singapore has the biggest income gap among 23 rich nations surveyed in the book, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. This chart from the book shows the income gap between the richest 20 per cent and poorest 20 per cent of the population.
Singapore has the second highest number of prison inmates per 100,000 people, as this chart shows. The USA has the highest among the 23 nations surveyed.
Singapore’s homicide rate is also higher than that of Japan, Norway, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland and New Zealand, according to this chart from the book based on the same UN surveys.
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I understand that policies may be enacted that would directly lead to the reduction in income gaps
… but what can be done (directly) to reduce inmate population? It is indirectly linked to the income gap, so the policies for the former should benefit the latter. Unless, of course, TOC goes against the grain and is actually asking for more death penalties to reduce inmate population?
So much for our “Swiss” standard of living…stupid voters deserves expensive government.
The headline of this TODAY article says: “Committed to going green“, about the government going green. But tucked in the last part of the piece was this line:
“Salaries for political appointments – ministers, ministers of state and parliamentary secretaries – are estimated to be $58.28 million, or 8.8 per cent higher than last year. ”
If you did not read this article at all or all the way through, you would have missed this important piece of news. And I bet you did not notice this. Correct?
The Gap is going to be wider. Do you think the government cares? They have budgeted a 8.8% increase for themselves.
singapore will win World Cup when huh?
2010 surely can ?
how about 2014?
Can someone confirm a date , AGAIN?
Low crime doesn’t mean no crime? = 2nd highest prison population? Baffling.
Wide income gap = Too expensive civil service. Makes sense.
In the private sector if you pay all your guys much more than what the company can afford, the company will not be around to take the next income gap survey. In the public sector, it just means budget deficit and then more taxes for the people. So i conclude that the income gap is wide because of our civil service costs.
It is true that the income gap is something worthy of our attention. However, the association of high inmate population with the income gap is uncalled for.
shouldn’t we be glad that the bad guys are all being locked up? Readers should not infer that high inmate population = high crime in singapore. It is likely due to the efficiency of our police force. This article presents the data in a rather biased manner. What is the author of the article trying to say?
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/01/how-pap-screws-up-singapores-labor-productivity-with-its-open-door-policy-to-foreign-workers/
The above is another shocking and sad graph .
Highest Income Gap + Low Productivity = more good years?
Sadly, am confident that despite everything the people will continue the way they are.
I dunno which country like this.
I dunno to go Mad or Laugh till i cry.
Highest paid ministers, emphasis on producing scholars and not entrepreneurs, no unions to protect workers from low wages. Lack of social welfare and help for citizens, plenty of laws to fine and imprison people who can’t pay.
Wide income gap because of lack of sufficient labour protection/rights–employers can always pay peanuts in a “take it or leave it” attitude; they threaten that they can always hire someone else (“more hungry”) to work for less… and they’re right. Even with skilled jobs–PRs will do it. Meanwhile, these big-shot decision makers are entitled to big bonuses for such brilliant cost-saving measures, right? Doesn’t take a genius to see how the income gap is widening.
All these tricks are learnt from the top.
The top 20% in Singapore comprises of mostly Civil Servants, Millionaires Ministers and their Familees, their Cronies.
In America, it’s the technological entrepreneurs (plus crooked Bankers, Fraudsters) that form the top 20%.
Which model is more sustainable? The answer is obvious. Singapore’s model is NOT sustainable. When you keep feeding fat-cat civil servants, millionaire ministers, you will bankrupt the country eventually.
Good Morning all,
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. Is certainly one way to of making sense of winners and losers.
But even the authors themselves agree its hardly authoritative in what it attempts to forward. I think when we talk about equality and inequality, we may need to return to the basic buiding blocks of how to create equality?
A good place to start is the mind. This can only be accomplished by driving out ignorance, narrow mindedness and fossilized assumptions i.e scholars are the best / we have the best ministers in the world / the best run GLC’s and quasi govt orgs / drive this nonsense to the sea and innovation and creativity will take root and it will stay to create weatlh – disregard that and what you may end up with is people who generally read the same thing – so is it such a wonder, they would also think and act the same, so what can they offer in the form of the new? That is how I see it.
If you do have the time, do check this essay out, IMHO it sums up the situation beautifully.
http://dotseng.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/why-settle-for-real-when-you-can-have-the-fake-the-art-of-choosing-the-red-or-blue-pill/
Do have great day.
SD (Internet Liaison officer of the brotherhood -sponsored by the Interspacing Mercantile Guild)
depends heavily on techgheephuat angmokio branch..they are the main voters 66% to be exact…if they are still as greedy or as daft as before..we are doomed
This high salary thingy for civil servants will destroy the Government.
It is time the public service start to go public and stop benchmarking themselves with private sector risk taking entrepreneurs.
.
“Singapore’s homicide rate is also higher than…” is misleading. The authors were measuring number of homicides per million against the income gap of the countries. It shows that despite Singapore having a high income gap, we have a low homicide rate. Compare that against Netherlands whose income gap is half that of Singapore (good thing since it’s more “equal” in income distribution) yet have the same number of homicides per million. Moral of the story? Despite a big income gap, we’re not stabbing each other in the face.
@tan: “shouldn’t we be glad that the bad guys are all being locked up?”
I’ll be more glad there are no ”bad guys,” and no circumstantial or social contexts that drives them to become ”bad guys” so to speak. I’m no criminologist nor sociologist, but from what we read of crimes and poverty, there is a definite correlation between social, income, education background, etc and crime. Safe for the truly wacko or psychotic, in which we could argue for biological or physiological flaws that condemn them to lives of crime, I would prefer viewing criminals as victims of a society that has failed them, whether through policies or failing to ensure adequate opportunities. Heard of the poverty cycle, and known anyone who have been entrapped in these cycles?
If Singapore has a high inmate concentration, that says more of the society it reflects than the ‘efficiency’ of authorities. Given how ‘rich and 1st world’ the country is, and how that should ideally reflect on less opportunities/motivation for crime, shouldn’t it also on the other hand call into question the ease with which people are incarcerated, and the judicial system itself? If the focus is on ‘reform’ vs ‘deterrence’, I would bet less resources need to be spent on incarceration.
We have the highest per capita in capital punishment (which tells you a lot about its effectiveness as a deterrent) and we also have the 2nd highest prison population? I thought we are supposed to be one of the most law abiding lot? Put things in certain perspective.
Although, honestly, I still safe here though… just like in many other countries.
Hi Andrew Leung,
“…no unions to protect workers from low wages. Lack of social welfare and help for citizens, plenty of laws to fine and imprison people who can’t pay.”
But sir, the people have all the time in the world to vote them out during elections in the last half a Century. The fact is each time they decide to ensure they succeed.
I am sure you know this. Dun tell me you are blaming the people for their decisions?
To be fair, i strongly suspect many countries citizens would not have maintained the status quo long ago but maybe singaporeans are so unique?
leachers, those money seeking morons!
@tan
You call into question an inference based on a statistical correlation, and go on to make one of your own, which is based on anecdotal observation. I would ask you, sir, what you are trying to say.
It goes without saying that correlation does not necessarily imply causation, but correlation, at the least, invites us to ask why there might be a correlation. A lot better than nicking lone statistics and fantasising wildly about The Perfect Police.
Why are there so many bad guys in Singapore?
Is it because Singaporeans have greater tendencies to be law breakers, relatively to everyone else in the world?
Or can it be that the rest of the world’s law enforcement are less effective or efficient, or both?
Or perhaps, there is something wrong with our legal processes.
And if it is a greater law-breaking tendency, then income gap is a possible explanation; as the poor is always more likely to take unconventional ways to make ends meet, especially when everything else have failed.
We can be sure, if we have access to the profiles, such as income, education, race, etc, of those in Singapore prisons – which of course the authorities have, and perhaps even have performed a detailed analysis of the data. And so they certainly know better what these statistics really mean. We can only make hypothesis.
More worrying however is the possibility that there is something wrong with our legal and policing processes. There are some things where efficiency can be a bad thing, eg justice, or rather injustice. Efficient injustice may be too much a price to pay for low crimes.
Objective: Jail as many as possible Singaporeans for the smallest of crimes=criminal record
Criminal record = cannot migrate, cannot contest with opposition, cannot have equal rights, monitored by police=absolute control by MIW. :)
Seow… I resent that statement. I’m in Civil Service. The money is not coming to us Servants. Its going to “Salaries for political appointments – ministers, ministers of state and parliamentary secretaries – are estimated to be $58.28 million, or 8.8 per cent higher than last year.”
One comment - in Singapore’s case, the book should compare us with other cities. Logically, crime rates are worse in crowded areas like cities. In small-knit rural areas like kampongs, villagers are unlikely to witness daily homicides or other serious crimes.
@Saz
These statistics still fly in the face of the received wisdom that Singapore is The Safe Place to Be.
before the so called ‘liberals’ use these so-called statistics to talk about how terrible our country is, note the following.
1) there is nothing wrong with a wide income gap, so long as the ‘quality of life’ gap is not as wide. there are many reasons to believe that if such a statistic were possible to measure, Singapore would do a lot better than say, the US, or Greece. One example which suggests my assertion is true is the fact that we have 90% public housing. Another example is that our cost of living is lower than most of these countries. It’s a fact (and this is aimed at those that consistently complain about Singapore’s rising cost of living). I’ve now lived in Cambridge (UK) and New York (USA), and trust me living in Singapore is CHEAP.
2) Homicide rates are not indicative of general crime rates. You can’t just draw this causal connection. Ask anyone if he would feel safer walking at night in Singapore or in Harlem, the Bronx (i can list a large number of cities in the US), and the answer would be obvious.
3) For those who don’t like anecdotes, here is a good argument why, in any case, these statistics don’t say anything. Virtually EVERY homicide in Singapore gets reported. I can bet less than 50% of American homicides get reported. So our extraordinarily high rate of crime reports can explain why Singapore might have a higher homicide rate.
Statistics are just statistics. I hate Singaporeans that keep whining. And this website, in the name of ‘free speech’, is so full of them. Now you’ve got me whining as well. cry father cry mother. just go and work and earn money can or not. too poor work harder la!
To hum:
You’re assuming the voting system is fool-proof, fair and cannot be manipulated. Ever heard of gerrymandering? Also do you remember the people who were made bankrupt and thus made ineligible to run for elections.
To hansel ng:
Cost of living must be matched to income, long-term expenses etc… just because a can of coke costs lesser in Singapore does not mean it is cheaper to live here.
Your example of homicide reporting is mystifying. Firstly when the issue is of *reporting*, the variable we should be concerned is size and not density. Secondly, these homicide rates are not of ‘reported ones’ but occurrences.
Yes we might be whining, but many people here are not merely concerned with themselves but also the welfare and livelihood of less-privileged groups.
Singaporeans quite standard nowadays.
Always bitching about the current govt but when it comes to the voting crunch, they vote the ruling party. When quizzed why, they come up with standard “I want my HDB, I still want my job” excuses.
Isn’t this akin to a dog sitting on a nail and yapping without doing anything about it?
LEC, are you puzzled also why the turnout is so many compared to …. and each time the vote count reflects something different?
Well, i guess all who saw the pictures of the turnouts and who were there felt the same as well.
Maybe each suspecting the other of casting the opposite at the last minute?
But then so many dare to turnout . does this not show they are not afraid of being seen to support?
We need to call in the mythbusters from the usa.
@Hansel
Your first point is ridiculous. So you’ve lived in the US and UK–funny thing is, you had to go live in the most expensive cities in order to make your point that Singapore is “cheap” compared. At least the people in those countries have the option to move to cheaper states/counties/cities when they want something more affordable.
About the homicide rate though, I have to say I don’t know what the original point of this statistic is. I could be mistaken but homicide strikes me as something usually committed by a person known to the victim. This doesn’t make me feel less safe in Singapore, but makes me wonder about the stresses we’re under that threaten to make some individuals snap.
Last point: Go look up the term “working poor”. We have them here in Singapore too.
hum Mar 1, 2010 15:55
PAP is very unique, heads they win, tails you lose. We even have a Minister Mentor.
Hopefully Singaporeans are unique too and will buy mee siam with hum.
–
http://www.slideshare.net/UWGlobalHealth/the-spirit-level-why-greater-equality-makes-societies-stronger
Singapore overall crime (2009) – 32,968
Prison population (2008) – 11,998 (Admitted – 27,958), (Released – 18,039).
INFLAMED BY CRITICISM OF THE GOV WHILE NOT COMING UP WITH CONVINCING POINTS
Highest homicide rate per million, BUT when you compare
Singapore population of 5 million
to
The USA’s of 300 million
You’ll understand it’s a matter of proportion. It doesn’t mean we have more homicide cases you know? It’s just our population size is small, it doesn’t mean as our population increases, oh the homicide rate will increase proportionally and fit into the graph.
Compare the lawlessness of certain parts of the US, ghettos and slums. Does Singapore have all that??? I think NOT. You can’t just look at homicides and say, oh, we have the highest rate per million, we have a high crime rate, the government is hypocritical!
That’s just rubbish.
And income gap is subjective. We do have manual laborers no? And don’t think Ministers kick back relax and rake in the millions for no work. They put in the effort to run the country. They are the ones who come under flak for policies that cannot satisfy EVERYONE. If you think you deserve those millions, run for parliament. Let’s see how many of us here on the Forum who critize them for being greedy and not looking after the general population CAN ACTUALLY MAKE it in and do as good ( or to be fair, the same standard) as the current government.
Period.
Guys , your views about singaporeans no use wan.
The fact is for 50 years, all policies have been accepted , perceivably.
Period. (not that type of period.)
@ Hansel Ng,
You’re right. It’s safer here in Singapore. But the puzzle here is that the statistics in the book seems to point out otherwise.
But there’s no puzzle here really. Those statistics are nationwide figures – rural towns and smaller cities are all lumped together in one overall figure. Those areas have much lower average rates of serious crimes. So, the overall figures are skewed lower by these areas.
If the authors use city statistics, then the homicide rates and prisoner rates are likely much higher compared to Singapore.
To verify this, someone has to find out those city statistics. Anyone keen? I’m not, but my feeling is that this sounds more intuitively correct to me.
Don’t know where the graphs come from, but if they are correct, this is certainly interesting and worrying. Also, it shows that democracy does not solve the problem as in the case for USA.
It is then important to reduce this income gap and having an expensive cabinet, civil service and extremely well paid CEOs do not help society at all.
Cabinet ministers should be paid well, but their pay should not be pegged to top income earners, but to the bottom earners. Likewise for CEOs. If the graphs speak truth, narrowing the income gap is important.
The financial crisis is capitalism where greed has gone overboard. Government should not be capitalist but socialist, with strong emphasis on welfare of people and not just about money.
I was camping overnight on Hantu Island over the weekend and saw quite a number of white private boats anchoring off the beach despite signs saying no motorized boats in the area. Gold hair westerners usually.
A short bicycle ride into the sentosa cove is also an eye-opener into the style of high class living.
In the past the rich would set up charity foundations to help poor. These days, we dont see the rich doing that. One wonders if the rich nowadays think that their wealth is their god-given right.
aiyah, what’s the point of comparisons? i thought the old wise man already said must compare apples to apples, orange to orange mah.
Sounds very pessimistic… how did this beautiful country has slipped into such state… Sigh !!
Didn’t LKY say that we are in Golden era ? whose golden era in his mind ??
@Nichodemus
You write even more rubbish lol…already highest crime ratem when the population is so small, when sg have 300mil like the US, we will be the top of the cream. Do u happen to fail in mathetical statistics?
If the US have only 5mil , the number of crime rate should fall proportionally, not the reverse.
Go back to study ok?
Singapore has always had one of the highest prison population per capita even 10-20 years ago. And the reoffending rate in Singapore is not low either. It is higher than Canada etc.
And Singapore’s prison conditions are one of the worst in the developed world. Inmates dont even have beds, they sleep on the hard floor. Turn left, pain. Turn right, pain. Lie on back, backache. Try sleeping on the floor in your room for one night and see how it feels like. Inmates sleep like that for years or even decades.
Inmates also don’t get to exercise outdoors at all. They are locked indoors, even their exercises are indoors. They dont get greenery, direct sunlight, open air etc for their entire sentence.
They also have no personal belongings with them except 3 story books. Even keeping photos of their family members and loved ones are not allowed unless special permission is give.
Singapore prison is very inhumane compared to all the developed world.
PS: inmates in singapore prison have no pillows or bolsters as well. and they sleep like that. they get 2 small blanket and they sleep on the floor. that is it. nothing in their cells at all.
and they are normally locked up for 23hours each day in a small cell unless they are lucky enough to work. no tv, no radio, no hobby materials unlike other developed country.
just 3 storybooks each month from their relatives.
obviously you can only push a petty shoplifter so much before he becomes depressed and bite off a ear or try to kill himself. a lot of inmates in singapore have mental illnesses due to the harsh regime and some try to kill themselves by smashing their skulls against the wall.
these people are then injected with antipyschotic drugs which can cause tardive dysknesia and chained to a metal bed (metal bed, no bedding, just sleep on hard metal) for days till the drugs take effect.
if these antipyschotic drugs are injected in high enough doses or regularly, they can cause very serious side effects such as “fits” called tardive dsykenesia where the person’s face twitch all the time and he looks like a madman with his fingers twisted and his face twisted for the rest of his life.
Maybe they need human rights groups help.
you must be crazy. since when did singapore have human rights groups?
even politicians who gather to give out flyers can be jailed. even work permit holders who overstay by 3 months have to undergo caning where they are whipped till they bleed and permanent scars are left on their asses.
prison in usa -> tv to watch, radio to listen, soft bed to sleep in, hobby materials, mp3 player, games, many books to read.
if you are well behaved and low security, you can even live in a minimum security prison and roam around, work on the farm, have access to internet et.
prison in japan -> plenty of outdoor exercises, outdoor work at shipyards etc, soft futon to sleep in, tv to watch, books to read.
if low security, you wont even have fences, they just have bamboo sticks as fences and no walls.
prison in hong kong -> tv to watch, radio, unlimited letters to write, outdoor walks, books, earn money while working, soft beds to sleep in, etc
prison in korea -> more or less same as hong kong
prison in singapore -> no tv, no bed, no pillows, sleep on hard floor very painful, no radio, only 3 books a month, zero personal belongings, no games in cell, no radio, no nothing. if not working, you are locked in cell 23 hours a day with 1 hour indoor exercise.
singapore is hot and humid as hell so expect to sweat like a dog all day in your cell since there are no fans or air con.
locked in a multi story building for years without any chance to go outdoors to exercise. no greenery, just hard concrete all around you. if you are lucky to work, work is also indoors inside the building. u can do laundry or do some other stupid repetitive jobs.
no such thing as low security prison where you can roam around freely!
you are locked up behind layers and layers of walls. with layers after layers of high fences, spikes, motion detectors, cameras everywhere, electric fence, rifle carrying soldiers, electronic doors etc even if you are just a shoplifter or white collar criminal.
to be honest, singapore likes to boast it is a safe place to live in. and some singaporeans like to claim that the USA or Europe as very dangerous places.
but singapore is not much safer than hong kong or cities in the USA or Europe. many australian/european/american/canadian/new zealand/ japanese/ taiwanese/ korean cities are just as safe as singapore to live in if not safer lol.
some say singapore is so impressive many migrate here.
IF so, why need the kind of policies that is so open?
Surely, sg being so impressive can attract all the talents it needs even without such liberal policies?
we strive to be first in everything what!
our pledge is outdated. “we the citizen ……..” citizen is only slightly more half of the occupants so carried less weight. May I suggest:-
” We the OCCUPANTs of singapore, regardless of nationalities,race , language, religion or sexual orientation pledge ourselves as one unitied working machine so as to achieve targeted economic growth at all cost in order to maintain our well paid goverment. blar blar blar …………(need input from valued commentators) …….”
TGIS — thank god it’s SUNDAY
ypap , if you are reading, explain the drop in productivity with influx of top class talents.
convince us, if you can. if cannot, don’t reply. spare yourselves.
The question that begs to be answered here is what is the percentage of Singaporean vs foreign prisoners incarcerated in the prisons.
//b
Every year, a few people die from physical issues while serving National Service in Singapore
Every year, a few people die because of gun fights in Texas
GO FIGURE WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?
“I believe the statistics are based on the fact that if you are not convicted, it is not recorded”
Don’t believe. Show us the facts