Benjamin Cheah
“We have 5 more days to make the biggest change of our lives!”
With these words, the Reform Party’s (RP) rally kicked off. The key message of the evening was voting to change Singapore for the better. The party brought up the late Mr Joshua Benjamin Jayeratnam, saying that his ‘spirit is still alive’ and that he was ‘a step ahead of his time’. The Reform Party said that it stands for ‘integrity, trust, and hope for a better future’.
The speakers consistently brought up the effects of increasing number of foreigners on Singapore. Mr Arthero Lim said, “By next elections, I may have to address you as…Chindiapore.” He claimed that the People’s Action Party (PAP) would ‘bring in more foreigners’, which would drive up housing prices and increase competition for places in schools.
Ms Ho Soak Harn said foreign workers were willing to work longer hours for lower wages, displacing the elderly and lowly-educated women who used to do menial jobs. In addition, Mr Frankie Low said foreigners are competing with Singaporeans for jobs and housing. Criticising Mr Mah Bow Tan’s statement that ‘housing is not a make or break issue’, he charged that affordable housing was very important to Singaporeans. Mr Low said high HDB flat prices were “not sustainable” as “people cannot pay for a HDB flat”, adding that many people could not retire because most of their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings were “tied up in their HDB flats.” Mr Kenneth Jeyaratnam summed everything up by saying Singapore’s economy was “built on importing cheap labour from overseas.”
The RP proposed a series of ideas to address these issues. The party would “push for assistance for the elderly” workers who have been replaced. Ministerial salaries would be reduced, with the monies going to this assistance program. The party also recommended releasing more land for housing and pushing for smaller and cheaper 1- and 2-room flats. The minimum age for singles to buy flats would be reduced to an as-yet unspecified age, allowing singles to purchase these flats, with their housing loan small enough to be paid off in 15 years instead of 30 to 50 years. Above all, the party proposed to “reform foreign labour policy so Singaporeans come first.” The nature of this reform was not elaborated upon.
Labour issues were brought up as well. Mr Mansor Rahman criticized the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), saying, “You cannot let political men lead the unions.” He was referring to Mr Lim Swee Say, Secretary General of the NTUC and a Cabinet Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. He said that “all PAP MPs (Members of Parliament) and ministers should resign from NTUC.” The RP would “fight” for the rights of trade unions and promote “socio-economic justice for workers.” Furthermore, Ms Ho said the party would push for more part-time jobs to help working mothers. This would allow working mothers to look after their children and spend more time with their families while still being able to support them. Employers would be provided with allowances and incentives to accommodate them.
Mr Rahman also spoke about Malay issues and security. In response to Dr Yaacob Ibrahim’s remarks on teaching Malay as a foreign language, he said that Malays prefer using Malay as a first language. Mr Rahman said Malays were “second class citizens” in Singapore; with the influx of foreigners, he added, Malays were now “third class citizens.” Mr Rahman also brought up Mas Selamat’s escape, criticizing the police and Internal Security Department for failing to secure and later to capture him.
“I want to make politics an everyday activity,” Mr Jeyaretnam said. He promised to scrutinise budgetary processes and question budgetary surpluses if elected to Parliament, adding that Singapore could invest in education, healthcare and infrastructure instead of investing money overseas. He proposed a new health insurance policy to replace MediShield and MediCare, so that everybody could afford healthcare.
The party would reform the Central Provident Fund system to allow members to withdraw their money at the age of 55. A minimum wage would replace Workfare, to be set at “a level that doesn’t damage businesses.” National Service would be reduced to 18 months, and later to 1 year, with “proper compensation” for National Servicemen. Foreigners who receive scholarships in order to become Permanent Residents and later citizens should either serve National Service or pay a special tax.
Special mention was made of Mr Lee Hsien Loong’s condolence letter to Mr Jeyaratnam. On Sunday, Mr Jeyaratnam said that the condolence letter, written after his father’s death in 2008, spurred him to enter politics. Mr Jeyaratnam said that Mr Lee noted that his father sought to “demolish” the PAP and therefore “had to be destroyed”, a point which Mr Lee said was not accurate. Mr Jeyaretnam explained that he was standing in politics “not to destroy democracy”, but to “build a better Singapore.” After the rally, when approached by a Straits Times reporter, he said, “If I had misquoted (Mr Lee), then it was an honest mistake and I apologise.”
The MC worked the crowd to a rousing finish. “Change is coming to Singapore!’ he declared.
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RP,
Please don’t waste our time. Don’t talk about change when nobody here believes you can manage town councils. Your ability is in doubt.
Pinky must have been secretly importing foreigners without consulting his ministers. How else can one explain the problems of housing and transport caused by the huge influx of foreigners. Surely Mabok Tan would know that more foreigners coming would require more housing. Similarly Mr Raymond Lim would know that more foreigners coming would surely put a heavy strain on the transportation system of the country.
LKY has recently announced that Singapore would be importing 900000 foreigners into Singapore. This will put even more pressure
on housing and transport.
So many bad ideas! Where do I begin?
The immigration scare is just that a scare. We can look at some of the strongest countries in the world, (US, UK, etc..) and show how the influx of immigrant labor made them stronger and better places. It’s part of a countries development process. Sometimes we forget how young a country Singapore is.
On housing, what’s a young couple going to do after they buy their one or two room flat and have a child? Will they still be able to afford a bigger flat? Buying smaller delays the issue, not eliminates it.
And where’s all this land going to come from to release for more housing? I don’t know about you but I don’t want to see Singapore become a completely paved over country?
The comment about Malay’s preferring to use Malay as a first language doesn’t make sense. What do they want to do, change the day to day business language of Singapore to Malay? Let’s be realistic, it’s not going to happen.
Could go on and on but you get the point. Their team needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with realistic ideas that will actually work for Singapore.
According to Deformed, RP may not have done much, yet. But PAP has proven to have made terrible policies that destroyed & belittled Singaporeans. A party with heart should be given a chance. A party which has proven to make lives miserable should be fired.
Mainstream propaganda media seldom report and political news other than those that favor the pap.
Neither reports of other countries in terms of their economy or society other than scandals, natural disasters, conflicts etc.
The govt via the media paints a picture of a good ruling party in a stable society.
But as our people get more well traveled and cosmopolitan we realise that this is not the case, we read and experience the various economic and social societies that other countries have.
And we compare them to what we have here.
The govt dont want its citizens to be aware and compare, they just want us to read gossip/entertainment news, the young pursue fashion and electronic gadgets, the people worry about money and retirement through expensive housing and cpf drawout dates.
They want to monopolize the rule by turning us ignorant.
YES, LAND OF IMMIGRANTS, OUR ANCESTORS CAME FROM ALL THE GARBAGE HOLES AND LANDED HERE, BUT THEN, WAS SINGAPORE, INDEPENDENT,HAS AN ARM FORCE, FIGHTER JETS, NO, ALL BUILT BY US.
SO NOW, ALL ARE WELCOME,?? WHY NOT ASK THE 500,000 MALAYSIANS CHINESE, WHY ARE THEY GOING BACK AFTER MAKING MONEY WORKING, BUYING AND SELLING FLATS, WHY, AFTER 20 YEARS THEY GO BACK AND NOT TAKE CITIZENSHIP, WHY, IS THIS A LAND FOR THE MONEY DEALERS, LAND OF THE PROSTITUTES, LAND OF THE MERCENARY, LAND FOR PLUNDERING……
SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALL CAME AND PLUNDER ???
LOCALS ARE TO DIE ???
LOCALS ARE TO SUFFER ???
LOCALS ARE THE ONES, “LEFT COCK DIE, STANDING” DO N.S. AND IF ANYTHING HAPPENS, EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI, LOCALS ARE THE ONES LEFT BEHIND, BESIDE THE DEAD PLUNDERERS,
“TO PICK UP THE PIECES”
YES, ALL MANUFACTURING COMPANIES ARE GIVEN SUBSIDIES FROM DAY ONE TO COME HERE, TAX FREE HOLIDYAS TOO, WHO IS PAYING, TAX PAYERS OF COURSE, IT CANNOT BE FROM LKY’S POCKET OR LSS’S POCKET,
BUT DOES THE TAX PAYERS BENEFIT, THINK……
WHY ARE THESE COMPANIES IN ALL KINDS, CALLED FDI, NEEDING SO MUCH OF SUBSIDIES Of ALL KINDS AND TAX FREE STATUS FOR 10 YEARS, WHY,
ARE CEO’S DOING THEIR JOB, HELL NO, MILKING THE ISLAND NATION, AND THEY CLAIM THEY DON’T HAVE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT WHEN SO MUCH OF SUBSIDIES ARE GIVEN, IT JUST SHOWS THEY ARE NOT “UP TO IT” AND THEY WANT HIGH CEO PAYOUT, CHEAPEST OF LABOR, NOT SINGAPOREANS BUT CHEAPEST.
TRY SLAVES !!!
IT JUST SHOW, THAT THESE COMPANIES WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE IT ANYWHERE IN S.E.A, WITH STRICT LABOR LAWS IN INDONESIA, THAILAND, WHY NOT TRY CHINA, INDIA, CEO’S…
IT JUST SHOWS OUR MINSTERS ARE DUDS, PLAYING ALONG THIS LINE,
SLAVE TRADING IS THE NORM HERE, AS LEVIES ARE COMING IN BY THE MILLIONS AND BILLIONS, FOREIGN LEVY OF ALL KINDS, INCLUDING MAIDS….
AND YOU BLAME PARENTS FOR NO BABIES, YOU MEAN YOU WANT YOUR BABIES TO BE SLAVES..?
DID YOU VOTE FOR THESE DUDS ???
I SURE DID NOT SINCE 1986………..
AND I SURE WILL NOT ……….!!!!!!!!!!!
DUDS=DAFTS
DAFTS=DUDS
Only once in 5 years they sweet-talk us! The rest of the time, they take us for granted and take us for fools! After elections, it’s back to the same old brow-beating, bashing and battering of the citizens. We now know their games! And it doesn’t work anymore!
They have practised their brand of politics for so long, that they simply don’t know any other way of responding to the national, social and economic issues brought up by the people.
Singaporeans have physically grown up, there’s a whole new generation amongst us. We are more educated and more knowledgeable. We are getting more globalised and exposed. We are more socially mature and have opinions on issues which affect us. We have come of age politically.
I want to say a huge THANK YOU to ALL Oppo parties in Singapore for galvanising and coordinating yourselves SO WELL as to be able to contest an unprecedented 82 seats. THIS is what has unnerved the PAP and they have been in panic mode since N-Day. For too long, the PAP managed to keep the Oppo parties out of elections. But for the first time in Singapore’s history, THANKS to the Oppo parties, the PAP is facing the possibility of their own demise.
A big SALUTE to all Oppo parties! We would not be where we are today without you!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
MY VOTE IS FOR OPPO. WOO-HOO! WORKERS PARTY IS CONTESTING ALJUNIED!
MM said the only ‘hot spot’ is Aljunied. LOL! He’s just trying to distract us! Don’t be fooled by him!
By saying this, he is implying that all other seats will be won by the PAP. This is an attempt to get the electorate under the spell of the ‘walkover effect’. If PAP is going to win anyway by winning all other constituencies – the ‘walkover effect’ – then the voters, especially the swing voters, will be thinking, okay, since PAP still wins, what’s the use of voting Oppo.
Oppo parties should press on with the issues affecting citizens. Highlight the differences between our lives 5 years ago, when PAP had a walkover, and now, after 5 more years of continued PAP rule. Remind the electorate that Singaporeans at long last have a CHOICE about their future. And not only that but they now have the opportunity to CHOOSE their choice.
MY VOTE IS FOR OPPO. WOO-HOO! WORKERS PARTY IS CONTESTING ALJUNIED!
Trouble is, ONE person had made our life so fearful after what he DID to the dis-senting voices and opposition and used our courts to “KILL” the person’s(ALL HUMANS ARE FREE SPIRITED) spirit and will to live. So, today, we have a nation of young that has no fight, no challenge, no imagination and that ONE person and his stooges claim, “our young must be apathetic to politics”, what a contradiction.
Trouble is the sing dollar appreciate too fast and furious. Is it good for us, you better think. Hot flow of money into any economy, closed or open, is not good as it destabilize all things.
Our trade with malaysia is more on, concrete, sand, granite, and granite sand and compared to food, chicken, vege, eggs, pork, its this trade of building materials, that brings in the bacon for the gov, in selling of land, condo cost and fees of all kinds to gov coffers. This trade is larger than the food cost all singaporeans consumed DAILY, since day one, look at HDB from 1973 onwards.
The nation has lost christmas island because of some despot,LYH, imagine if we have christmas island, our army, navy and air force cost can be saved in the billions, instead of going to australia, new zealand, taiwan, south africa for training.
LIKE SOMEONE SAID.
“BUT, DO WE REALLY NEED AN ARMY IN THE 21ST CENTURY, WHY NOT HAVE A FEW A BOMBS AND LET THAT BE A DETERRENCE”
DOES ANYONE WIN A WAR IN THE 21ST CENTURY, ONLY THE DESPOTS WOULD WANT TO GO TO WAR IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
Imagine if christmas island is with us, our fishery can be develop, farming of all kinds can have huge potential, and recreation too. One can imagine the kind of things one can create there.
But then, we have voted in duds, with no imagination and that cost us aplenty. We have many malaysians chinese and indians and they say, “LKY is our saviour, he’s very good”, and these people have been taking away our jobs and depressing our wages, creating inflation of all kinds, but never wanting to take up citizenship, why, is the jobs not good enough for your children, the ones you have taken away from locals, the HDB that you have stayed, 10-20 years, not good enough for your retirement, the buses, mrt ????
As if this ONE person wants to show or prove to Mahathir, “look, we have created jobs and save your economy”, “your unemployment data figures IS LOW DUE TO US giving jobs to 600,000 malaysians”
It’s this ONE person that SAID, singaporeans are difficult, daft, has no spike, not hungry. This ONE person looks at us, all singaporeans as a BARRIER to his GLORY.
Now, do you want to give him your vote ??
To all Oppo parties:
Please be aware of the following.
We are in Kaki Bukit ward of Aljunied GRC. We were formerly under Marine Parade GRC and now gerrymandered to Aljunied GRC.
We received a total of 4 items pertaining to GE2011:
- PAP main party brochure
- PAP Aljunied GRC brochure
- PAP Aljunied GRC single-page pamphlet
- WP East Coast GRC brochure.
I contacted WP to inform them that we had received WP’s East Coast GRC brochure instead and to ask for the WP’s Aljunied GRC brochure.
WP replied to ask whether we had received the WP East Coast GRC brochure in our letter box or at the door. They said they had engaged Singpost to distribute the WP Aljunied GRC brochures to households in the constituency.
I call upon all Oppo parties to carefully check where the boundaries are and to distribute their brochures to the correct areas.
I also call upon all Oppo parties to check whether the correct brochures have been correctly distributed and received.
Also, I don’t think Oppo parties should use Singpost.
Please use a private flyer distribution company or use your volunteers (a bit late for this perhaps but still doable if you have the people).
MY VOTE IS FOR OPPO. WOO-HOO! WORKERS PARTY IS CONTESTING ALJUNIED!
Trouble is, ONE person had made our life so fearful after what he DID to the dis-senting voices and opposition and used our courts to “KILL” the person’s(ALL HUMANS ARE FREE SPIRITED) spirit and will to live. So, today, we have a nation of young that has no fight, no challenge, no imagination and that ONE person and his stooges claim, “our young must be apathetic to politics”, what a contradiction.
Trouble is the sing dollar appreciate too fast and furious. Is it good for us, you better think. Hot flow of money into any economy, closed or open, is not good as it destabilize all things.
Our trade with malaysia is more on, concrete, sand, granite, and granite sand and compared to food, chicken, vege, eggs, pork, its this trade of building materials, that brings in the bacon for the gov, in selling of land, condo cost and fees of all kinds to gov coffers. This trade is larger than the food cost all singaporeans consumed DAILY, since day one, look at HDB from 1973 onwards.
The nation has lost christmas island because of some despot,LYH, imagine if we have christmas island, our army, navy and air force cost can be saved in the billions, instead of going to australia, new zealand, taiwan, south africa for training.
LIKE SOMEONE SAID.
“BUT, DO WE REALLY NEED AN ARMY IN THE 21ST CENTURY, WHY NOT HAVE A FEW A BOMBS AND LET THAT BE A DETERRENCE”
DOES ANYONE WIN A WAR IN THE 21ST CENTURY, ONLY THE DESPOTS WOULD WANT TO GO TO WAR IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
SOMEONE SAID, “THE ISLAND IS A BARREN LAND, WHO IN THE RIGHT MIND WANTS TO CONQUER BARREN LAND, BECAUSE AFTER THE WAR OR INVASION, EVERYTHING WILL BE FLAT”
ASK YOURSELF, “DO YOU WANT TO REBUILT AFTER THE WAR OR INVASION”, “HOW MUCH IS REQUIRED”, “ARE YOU SURE SOMEONE WILL SELL, YES, SELL YOU SAND, GRANITE, CEMENT” AFTER THEY FLATEN YOU ??
Imagine if christmas island is with us, our fishery can be develop, farming of all kinds can have huge potential, and recreation too. One can imagine the kind of things one can create there.
But then, we have voted in duds, with no imagination and that cost us aplenty. We have many malaysians chinese and indians and they say, “LKY is our saviour, he’s very good”, and these people have been taking away our jobs and depressing our wages, creating inflation of all kinds, but never wanting to take up citizenship, why, is the jobs not good enough for your children, the ones you have taken away from locals, the HDB that you have stayed, 10-20 years, not good enough for your retirement, the buses, mrt ????
As if this ONE person wants to show or prove to Mahathir, “look, we have created jobs and save your economy”, “your unemployment data figures IS LOW DUE TO US giving jobs to 600,000 malaysians”
It’s this ONE person that SAID, singaporeans are difficult, daft, has no spike, not hungry. This ONE person looks at us, all singaporeans as a BARRIER to his GLORY.
Now, do you want to give him your vote ??
To Fellow-Singaporeans:
Your vote is secret and safe. Do not fear the serial numbers or the govt blacklisting us
The serial numbers are there only to ensure that each voter votes only once.
It takes WAY too much money and labour to trace who voted for which party. Do you think the PAP govt, so stingy with the people and so greedy for themselves, would willingly spend millions of dollars to trace and blacklist hundreds of thousands of Oppo voters? Last elections, there were about 400,000 Oppo voters; this time it may be more. This is outgoing expenses for them, nothing goes into their own pockets. So why bother doing it?
They rather keep the money for themselves or use it to think up ways to milk more money from the people, don’t you think?
After the counting, the ballot boxes and all records are sealed, witnessed by the candidates for each constituency. The candidates have to put their signatures on the seals. Then the sealed items are locked up in the Supreme Court vault for 6 months. You need a court order to open any of the sealed boxes. Then the sealed items are taken out of the vault, with the candidates present, who check whether the seals are intact and their signatures still there, and sent to the incinerators to be burnt in the presence of the candidates.
To all Oppo parties:
Please explain this matter in your brochures and websites. At each rally, give a brief explanation about this. It can pull in extra votes. You need every single vote you can get, as results may be very close. WP’s website has an excellent Q&A page on this subject: http://wp.sg/wpge/your-vote-is-secret-3/
Also educate voters on the correct way to mark the ballot slip, so as to not spoil the vote:
- Mark your ballot slip with an ‘X’ only, not any other kind of mark.
- Mark your ‘X’ in the empty square box next to the name of your party of choice.
- Your ‘X’ should be clear and large and in the CENTRE of the square box.
- But the ‘X’ MUST NOT touch any side of the box; it must be ‘floating’ in the centre.
MY VOTE IS FOR OPPO. WOO-HOO! WORKERS PARTY IS CONTESTING ALJUNIED!
The foreigners have been brought in by truckloads to benefit in terms of $$$ (cos of GDP-pegged Minsiterial wages – they benefit immensely) and of course, undeniably hoping that each new foreigner given PR/citizenship will translate into votes for them. Scrutinize and it is about perpetuating the rule of a particular dynasty at all costs.
The incumbents know that time is no longer on their slide as the inexorable downward slippery slide is inevitably beginning to manifest itself.
Now it is: stay in power and enjoy the ride as long as possible and meanwhile ”milk” the citizens via of any truth-sounding lies to justify … It is only a matter of time they would be voted out for good. However, as long as one is in power one has the means to partake of the coffers.
.
The foreinger especially when put in a managerial position is obviously going to favor his own kind, from his own country. The incumbents know this and tacitly agree to such a practice. Hence, the difficulty of singaporeans landing a job.
U see lah, Singaporeans are so stupid that they are still whining when they cannot see thru this mind games, these dubious statistics and the real motives behind this craftily conceived foreigner-PR-Citizen nexus of political …. the gameplan is to benefit politically and economically- and yet built a vote-bank to replace eroding Singaporean votes.
Singaporeans can change this but it must be a vote that emphatically changes the political landscape. A landscape where transparency, accountability,responsible governance is the mainstay
After the 7th of May – the worse awaits us.
Am I fear-mongering? I leave it to the awakened, the discerning to see thru this charade of governance.
All Voters,
Voting is secret and there is nothing to be fearful to vote opposition parties.
Voters are given the right to vote for qualify and capable candidates to represent the Singaporeans.
We need alternate voice to make the PAP work toward the interest of the individual Singaporeans.
We need a good number of Opposition MPs (in tens of them) to represent the general Singaporeans.
It is Action time….. Go for it……. Vote for the Future of every Singaporean and furture generation of Singaporeans ………..
To all voters.
Pls do not believe in the Straits Times.
It is a mouth piece of the PAP !!!!
Go to the rally and see and hear the speech youself. You will then understand alot of misquote !!!
KJ should go write a blog instead of running for election. He keeps riding on his father’s reputation and I don’t feel his speeches touch a chord with Singaporeans.
Please be grounded in reality, not just rhetoric. I suspect that’s why so many left your party.
Since the PAP has not mention anything about reducing the foreign workers in Singapore, during the election rallies, it can be taken that the ruling party still has intention to bring in even more after the election! Perhaps it is safe to say at least a population of 6.5 million people, so another million to go!
Do you agree with the PAP? Show it with your votes!
Vote the strong opposition in to the parliament for a better government with more voices – yes!!
Vote weak opposition in to parliament – screwing up singapore.
reform party is pure crap. unsound economical plans and shit candidates.
Prove: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7mhPR16jYI&feature=related
Dont blindly vote for opposition ty.
After election is electricity,water supply,fuel,transport,food,medical,gst,Child/care,nursing-house,conservative charge going to increase,at present can afford to get sick,some even consider/delay having children,coz have age parents to look after (pay nursing home),can’t afford a new home.what choice do citizens have,you tell me?