Upgrading should be a separate issue from the General Election
To: The Secretary-General of the People's Action Party
We are concerned about the linking of public housing upgrading and estate renewal programmes to electoral support for the PAP in a constituency.
The prioritisation of upgrading programmes should be based on sound criteria and be kept a separate issue from the general election.
These are the reasons:
1) In selecting a precinct for upgrading, the age and condition of the estate and the flats should be foremost considerations. As national agencies, the HDB and the MND have the responsibility to improve the living environment of all Singaporeans.
2) Residents in the opposition wards are fellow citizens and they contribute to this country just like you and me. It is against national cohesion and irresponsible for the government to alienate them by denying them of upgrading programmes and public amenities in their constituencies. The people of Singapore certainly have not entrusted the PAP government to misuse public funds to advance its self-interests.
3) It is important not to turn our parliamentary elections into local council contests. The government should be elected based on their policies and plans for Singapore - not municipal issues. To intimidate voters with withholding upgrading programmes seems to suggest that the ruling party is trying to avoid serious debates on national policies.
The elected government of the day should work for and together with all Singaporeans transcending political factions. The provision of upgrading programmes and public amenities must not be dominated by narrow party self-interests.
We, the undersigned, request that the vote in a general election not be linked to upgrading programmes.
Sincerely,
We are concerned about the linking of public housing upgrading and estate renewal programmes to electoral support for the PAP in a constituency.
The prioritisation of upgrading programmes should be based on sound criteria and be kept a separate issue from the general election.
These are the reasons:
1) In selecting a precinct for upgrading, the age and condition of the estate and the flats should be foremost considerations. As national agencies, the HDB and the MND have the responsibility to improve the living environment of all Singaporeans.
2) Residents in the opposition wards are fellow citizens and they contribute to this country just like you and me. It is against national cohesion and irresponsible for the government to alienate them by denying them of upgrading programmes and public amenities in their constituencies. The people of Singapore certainly have not entrusted the PAP government to misuse public funds to advance its self-interests.
3) It is important not to turn our parliamentary elections into local council contests. The government should be elected based on their policies and plans for Singapore - not municipal issues. To intimidate voters with withholding upgrading programmes seems to suggest that the ruling party is trying to avoid serious debates on national policies.
The elected government of the day should work for and together with all Singaporeans transcending political factions. The provision of upgrading programmes and public amenities must not be dominated by narrow party self-interests.
We, the undersigned, request that the vote in a general election not be linked to upgrading programmes.
Sincerely,
The Upgrading should be a separate issue from the General Election Petition to The Secretary-General of the People's Action Party was created by concerned citizens and written by Edmund Khor (edmund.khor@yahoo.com). This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.
UPGRADING:
ReplyDeletePAP, is this the best the PAPGovt can do?
Dear Mr SM Goh, it's time you put a stop to such a low-class electioneering tactic as UPGRADING.
Our lives involve more than just a new coat of paint, additional lifts, a landscaped walkway, or a swimming pool.
The PAP of older days had more "class" although I didnt like the defamation suits. But at least they had vision, and they refused - or should I say, tried hard to avoid - to play pork barrel politics. Today, the PAP has sunk so low, lack idealism, and has no new ideas.
Your upgrading policies are driving a wedge, a deep division, between the peoples of Singapore. Your attempt to win votes by using such tactics will cost Singapore dearly in the future.
You cannot turn back the march of time: Singaporeans DO want an alternative voice in Parliament. They dont want totalitarian rule, no matter how many bowls of rice it has delivered on the table. Even those who hold that PAP should still govern Singapore, also want an opposing voice in PArliament.
Don't deny us that need, please.
Please go back to "Go" and touch base with your soul. All of us, regardless of our political persuasion, are first and foremost Singaporeans. The government's treatment of its population must be based on that high principle - Singaporeans FIRST. Political association a far second if not last.
The government must uphold that principle. Not to do so will further shape Singaporeans to think their flat first, Singapore last. Are constituents in PAP wards first class citizens and those in oppo wards second class?
Your upgrading carrot may be good for your PAP, but will ultimately be destructive for Singapore as a nation.
Mr Goh, may I respectfully ask you: if a war should break out, do you not expect a soldier who votes for the opposition, to stay on the frontline and defend our little pigeonhole flats and your swanky & expensive property??? Or should the soldier's will to fight be based on whether he got his flat upgraded or not?
And if I relocate my shop to Hougang, may I pay less tax and no GST please? Afterall, you do not intend to spend any taxpayers' money on the precinct anyway so you dont need all that money.
These are pertinent questions, Mr Goh.
You want to win an election, win it fair and square, with dignity, based on your vision of how you can make Singapore a better place for Singaporeans first.
Win the election, if you can, based on what MORE you can do for Singapore, not what you can take away from the opposition.
Let pork barrel politics be the game of lesser men.
- peasantJUDGE
on Sammyboy Alfresco Coffeeshop Forum
Pork barrel politics is less appealing when present economic condition is in dismay.Upgading is least important in the minds of unemployed residents and old folks.
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