Adolf Hitler & Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Reich Minister of Propaganda & National Enlightenment, had power over all German press, radio, cinema & theatre. They used a method of political propaganda that can best be described as:
1. Tell a lie,
2. Make it a big lie, and
3. Keep repeating that lie until it is perceived as truth.
This same tactic is used by Communists and Dictators. And It is used by the ruling regime here, especially with the compliant state controlled media doing it’s propaganda. Let’s look at some key issues that the PAP leaders and MPs have given a twist repeatedly to make Singaporeans believe what they are saying is “true”.
| Real Issue | Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics |
| 1. Influx of Foreigners – In 2003, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his most ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people by 2030.All of sudden without warning, the floodgates were flung open without any proper screening and Singapore was swarmed by ‘cheap’ foreigners (most of whom aren’t talent) who now make up more than 36 percent of Singapore’s population just to ensure GDP growth. Singaporeans are suffering the ill effects of this social engineering disaster. Wages have slumped while inflation has increased. Thousands of PMETs have been replaced and displaced. Housing prices have skyrocketed. Trains, buses and walkways have become unbearably crowded. Many locals are considering or have decided on emigrating. In a survey in 2006, 53 percent of Singaporean teens said they would consider emigration. Another website survey put the average outflow at 26.11 migrants per 1,000 citizens, the second highest in the world. And these are our own home-grown talents who have become threatened by the new foreigners. |
“We must continue to promote immigration into Singapore because just as we accept that Singaporeans have the world as their oyster, so too we must promote immigration here and let this be one of the options which talent from around the world will look for when they are considering where to go and live.” (2006 National Day Rally). “In hard times Singaporeans think the non-Singaporeans are taking their jobs away from them, however, this is a mistaken view because without non-Singaporeans working alongside Singaporeans, the jobs may not be there in the first place.”(CNA 01 May 2009 ) “But in the last few years, the opportunity was good, the growth was strong, the wind was blowing and we thought we should catch the wind. The Government “did the right thing” in allowing more foreigners into Singapore”( Today On-line Apr 13, 2011)
“Without them, my guess is that our growth rate would be easily 1 to 2 percentage points lower. Without the foreign workforce, our flats and MRT will not be built, our buses will come to a standstill, our healthcare services will degrade, and many investors, including Singaporean ones, will uproot and go where talent is abundant.” (Speech at Deepa Thirunal, 7Nov 2009)
“We must continue to explore ways to make Singapore an attractive choice for those seeking to eventually relocate their homes… If we can keep up with that – 13,000, 14,000, 15,000, 16,000 (a year) and over time slowly increase it, I think that will be good for us.”
“The first misconception is that somehow there are five million people and that’s putting pressure on all of us. It doesn’t. Of the five million, 3.2 million are citizens and roughly 500,000 are permanent residents (PRs). The remaining 1.3 million are here on temporary work permits and they ‘impose no burden’ on the public housing system” (Straits Times, 2April 2011)
“ There is no free flow of foreign labour into Singapore. On the contrary, the government’s approach is to raise the skills and productivity of Singaporean workers while raising the skill profile of the foreign labour in Singapore so that as a whole the Singapore workforce becomes more competitive. Without them (immigrants), it is almost impossible for the country to survive and maintain its competitiveness.” (Channel 8 Political Forum)
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| 2. Widening Income Gap – Reuters news report “Singapore’s economic boom widens income gap” of 9 November, “the proportion of Singapore residents earning less than S$1,000 (US$690) a month rose to 18 percent last year, from 16 percent in 2002, central bank data released late last month show… and Singapore’s Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, has worsened from 42.5 in 1998 to 47.2 in 2006, and is now in league with the Philippines (46.1) and Guatemala (48.3), and worse than China (44.7), data from Singapore’s Household Survey and the World Bank show”. |
“To have a society where everybody is equal, that’s a recipe for poverty, it doesn’t work. There will be inequalities in society but we must make sure that the majority of people have a good standard of living and improving standards from year to year,” (CNA, 22 Sep 07 ) “The second concern is between the more successful and less successful. The income gap has widened over the last few years but the government has done much to help lower income Singaporeans.” (CNA, 01 May 2009) “Today, we enjoy a standard of living that is one of the highest in Asia. We live fuller, more secure, more comfortable lives than before, not just a minority of us but the vast majority of Singaporeans, and the next generation can look forward to something better still. “(PRE-UNIVERSITY SEMINAR, 01 JUNE 2010) “Therefore we have worked hard to enhance our social safety nets to address these concerns. We have improved the Public Assistance Scheme, we have built up Medifund, we have introduced Workfare and we have also introduced ComCare.”(CNA, 02 December 2010)
“We will create an inclusive society, with a Singaporean core, even if the income gap widens. In a free, market economy, not all Singaporeans will benefit equally from our growth. But all must enjoy the fruits of our collective effort to grow the economy. . We will do more to build an inclusive society, where lower income citizens can aspire to, and work towards a better life.” (S’pore Poly Graduates’ Guild (SPGG) 1 Apr 2011)
“Yes, the gini coefficient is very high. Through housing, health care and education, we have tried to narrow the income gap, but not through wages.” |
| 3. Rising Cost of Living – Inflation is currently at 5.5% (Jan 2011) . Singapore’s 2008 inflation rate highest in 28 years, up 6.5%. MAS says it will hit 6% or more in the months to come. Nominal incomes of low-wage earners have hardly grown in the past 10 years even as inflation has spiked significantly. What our wages or income can buy these days are slowly are being whittled away, and paring our shopping behavior to bare essentials. Can the half a million workers in the bottom 30% of the wage table really enjoy the purported GDP benefits as touted by the ruling party? Which consumer essentials have not risen in price? In fact retail prices of all consumer goods have increased at between 5% and 10%. And things are going to get worse with oil and commodity prices moving upwards. |
“Singaporeans should not be unduly worried, said Mr Lee. “When we say that inflation will hit 4 to 5 per cent in the first half of 2008, it is already where we are in January, so we may not see another price hike going forward.” “I completely understand how Singaporeans feel and why Singaporeans feel like this. But we have to react rationally to understand what’s happening to us and what we can and cannot do about it. We can’t prevent prices from rising in Singapore.” “Inflation is not just a problem for Singapore, it’s a worldwide problem because oil prices have gone up, food prices have gone up. “ “In terms of dollars, your wages have not gone down because most workers are earning more dollars this year than last year.” “We can help but we have to help in the right way. This year, we’ve done more to help Singaporeans.” ‘We help, we do a lot, but we don’t help by keeping the prices individually controlled,’ ‘We help by making sure that the low income are able to pay for their necessities, able to earn a living, able to have a roof over their heads.’ ( Nov 12, 2007)
“The lasting solution to inflation is to improve workers’ productivity so they can command higher wages” (Straits Times July 10, 2008) “The Government will take into account the impact of inflation and the needs of low-income and retiree households when considering further transfers,” Straits Times Jan 10, 2011)“We are providing more than required to offset the entire increase in the cost of living that low and middle income households will face this year.” “We have to do more to prevent an underclass from forming, an underclass that replicates its condition across generations. We have achieved phenomenal mobility in the last few decades. Real median household incomes in Singapore grew by 1.7 per cent per year from 2000 to 2009.” (2011 Budget Debate). |
| 4. Housing – Unaffordability of Public Housing – Between 1990 and 2009, HDB housing prices increased 400% as a result of the so called Asset Enhancement Scheme. The very mission of HDB changed from one of affordability to one of asset enhancement. The sky-high property prices threaten severe long-term effects for Singapore’s future. Many young people delay getting married because of insufficient savings to place a down payment for their first flat, which has a knock-on effect on our birth rate and our ability as a nation to replace ourselves in the next generation.One out of every seven HDB flat owners have problems paying their mortgage loans. This seems to be what the statistics have revealed. Last year, the HDB visited 60,000 flats which had problems paying their loans and gave financial counseling to 35,000 households. This is 14 per cent of the estimated 420,000 HDB loan mortgages – or one in seven. |
‘So with the house, the HDB flat which we help you to buy…nearly everybody has a home which is a big relief. So when rentals go up, you are not affected because you have your house and you have something for your old age to retire by,’ (AsiaOne Nov 11, 2007)
“HDB flats are sold at below cost on average. However, HDB does not price its flats based on cost, but on their market price less a generous discount, to keep the flats affordable. On average, flat buyers use about 22% of their monthly household income to pay for the mortgage instalment of BTO flats in non-mature estates.” (FORUM ON HOUSING WITH MINISTER FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MAH BOW TAN, Mar 15 2010) “HDB builds and sells flats at heavily-subsidised prices to ensure affordability. HDB also regularly reviews its subsidies to ensure affordability. But I must caution that there are limits to how much we can increase subsidies, without compromising other interests.” (Reflections on housing a nation”, by Mah Bow Tan) “We must also remember that CPF savings can be used for the initial downpayment and monthly instalments. Hence, more than 80 per cent of new flat buyers pay for their housing loans entirely out of CPF, without having to touch their take-home pay”. (Reflections on housing a nation”, by Mah Bow Tan) “Private property owners constitute a minority of resale flat buyers. Their presence is not the cause of the rising resale prices.” (FORUM ON HOUSING WITH MINISTER FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MAH BOW TAN, Mar 15 2010) “There are no easy answers. Ultimately, we need to balance the interests of affordability for homebuyers and the burden on taxpayers”. (Reflections on housing a nation”, by Mah Bow Tan) “Less than 8% of these mortgagees or home owners are facing some of these arrear problems and many of them are having mortgage arrears of between three and 12 months and some are above 12 months.” ( Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of National Development, Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Nov 2008 Debate) |
| 5. Increasing Medical Costs – the average bill for a subsidized C-class patient in a public hospital has gone up by between a third on the low end and almost double on the high end, in the four years since 2006. Majority of the 285,000 self-employed individuals don’t have Medisave, and are not insured. To get Medi-fund support you have to exhaust all your savings, live in a home and have little or no income to pass the criteria for receiving Medifund. Because of the govt’s push in Singapore becoming a medical hub and attracting rich foreigners for medical tourism, as well as having an attitude of cost-plus for even govt hospitals, our medical inflation is running at 6% annually. |
“I know Singaporeans worry about healthcare cost. This is a common worry all over the world.” We have good high standard public hospitals that are affordable because of the 3Ms,” referring to Medisave, MediShield and MediFund. “Our healthcare system is unique in the world because of Medisave. Medisave has entered its 21st year. Every year, the average Medisave balance of Singaporeans gets bigger. Among working Singaporeans, 4 out of 10, or nearly 500,000 have Medisave balances exceeding $25,000. This happy outcome applies to low-wage workers too. Those nearing retirement have an average of $12,545, enough for many hospitalisations. “(Budget Speech 2006) “There is hence a need to price our services properly so that we do not inadvertently attract non-emergency patients to our emergency departments. Non-emergency patients should go to their family GPs and not rush to emergency departments and compete for the resources meant for the critically-ill.” (In Parliament: 3 March 2008) “An increasing number of foreigners are coming here for treatment. This is good for the economy and a testament to our high standard of care” (In Parliament: 3 March 2008) “ we can avoid inflicting unnecessary pain and suffering to the natural process of dying by being wise in our healthcare policies and in how we structure our healthcare system.”(speech on 04 Mar 2011) “our commitment to continue ensuring that healthcare remains affordable for all Singaporeans is firm. Our 3Ms framework – Medisave, MediShield and Medifund – is time-tested. It is an important supplement to the government subsidy framework which is the main financier of inpatient care.” (Budget speech on 04 Mar 2011) |
6. First World Ministerial Salaries – Since 1994, ministerial salaries have been pegged to the top earners in Singapore, which have been relentlessly increasing even as the bottom quintile of wage earners fell off. In 2007, PM, ministers and top civil servants got pay rise of between 14% and 33%. On top of that they were given another 18.4 months of bonuses. That year, the Prime Minister received a total $3.09 million. In 2008, their monthly salary was increased by 14%. A junior minister got $2.19 million and the Prime Minister, $4.23 million. In 2010 GDP growth was 14.5%, a much higher rate than 2007. It is likely that the Prime Minister will heap on his and the ministers’ platters a 14-month PB compared to the 9 months they received in 2008. And all this when the bottom 30% of the population are earning below subsistence wages of $1,500 per month.These expensive ‘good’ people have a history of fiascos behind them, to name a few:
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“Ministers who deal with billions of dollars cannot be paid low salaries without risking a system malfunction. Low salaries will not attract able men who are or can be successful in their professions or business. Low salaries will draw in the hypocrites who sweet talk their way into power in the name of public services, but once in charge will show their true colour, and ruin the country.” … “Please do not forget, we are not an ordinary country. Ordinary men cannot run Singapore. If my old guard colleagues were ordinary men, there would not be today’s Singapore. The key leaders in this present government are not ordinary men. The old guard had spent many years to select, train, test and prepare them for the job. And they have shown their ability to adapt and make the system work under changed conditions.” “Unless there is a first-class political leadership and judiciary, the civil service, however capable and dedicated, will not be able to function properly” “You want to quarrel about $20 million over a $4 trillion economy? I say, rubbish! Let’s say the PAP crashes tomorrow, right? One boatload sinks, 3,000 people dead, you have an election. You’re going to reproduce this government? No! “If Singapore ever loses this kind of government of capability and integrity, who are always looking into the future and planning ahead, it will just sink into nothingness and become an insignificant island.”
“I am not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings. We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent – what is the job worth, what is the quality of the person whom you want. We need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you are pretending and you just say, ‘Well, we are all in it for the love of King and Country’. We want it to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money. But at the same time the sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have.” (BBC News. 18 March 2009) “The Minister Mentor is chairman of GIC not because he’s my father. It’s because he’s the best man for the job and he has been chairman since he was prime minister. Ho Ching is CEO of Temasek not because she’s my wife but because the chairman of Temasek and the board decided that they wanted to appoint her as CEO. And they’re there as long as they’re effective, performing, and if they don’t perform, well, they have to take the consequences.” ((BBC News. 18 March 2009) “The reason I can get good people from the Government and the unions is that I have a pay system which is working properly. People do not enter politics to get rich but neither will they enter politics and as a result, they and their family will become poor.” (The Straits Times – 6 April 2011) “It is something which is not easy to accept emotionally but is the right thing for Singapore. If you want the system to work for the long term, you must be honest about it. What do I pay for? I pay for the importance of the job, and how difficult it is to do..” (The Straits Times – 6 April 2011)
“For the public service to remain an attractive employer, our terms must keep pace with the private sector. We do not seek to lead the market, but to keep pace with it . The increase will bring the salaries to 88 percent of the benchmark by the end of 2008.” “We don’t want pay to be the reason for people to join (the government),” Teo said. ” But we also don’t want pay to be the reason for them not to join us, or to leave after joining us.”
“Think not of the ministerial pay hike in terms of dollars and cents, but about the kind of Singapore that you want.” (Responding to a resident’s question on the link between the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike and the ministerial pay increment at a dialogue session with residents during his ministerial visit to Tampines Central.) |
Conclusion: I hope that Singaporeans will have come to realize that what is said by the leaders of this regime is not really the truth, but what they want the electorate to believe as truth. I leave you with the thoughts of two famous writers – Machiavelli and George Orwell. Machiavelli wrote,
“Every one admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith, and to live with integrity and not with craft. Nevertheless our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have held good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent the intellect of men by craft, and in the end have overcome those who have relied on their word.”
For Orwell, the Machiavellian political abuse of language had distorted society into an increasingly malevolent form of tyranny. He wrote,
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.”
That is why he emphasized again. However, I would like to highlight here is that he as a minister and being paid as high as a CEO package, should he questions his own capabilities and his ministry of what has done to address all the housing problem highlighted by the people. Can Mr Mah in future, increase the price of HDB (which is good for the current home owner) and still make the new HDB affordable to the next generation? What this imply is that as the value of your (current home owner) flat increases, DON’T FORGET THE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOUR KIDS (NEXT GENERATION) HAS TO FORK OUT FOR THE NEW FLATS. Don’t think either PAP or WP would be able to come out with a good solution. BUT if we keep supporting the current HDB policy, we will only has to bear the consequences we are facing now. Have anyone noticed, when the property market is HOT, HDB always launched BTO flats/ Executive condominium. It is more expensive and I would say more profitable for HDB. Please show us statistic if this statement is untrue.
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