Hello Mr. Hri Kumar, you say that it is important for politicians to take a stand. Agreed. Unfortunately it seems that PM Lee Hsien Loong refused to answer any of the questions I posed to him either on CNA or his FB wall. Maybe YOU can take a stand here instead and answer my questions because they’re all on issues of public concern.
1. Mr. Nair, I have been inside Hendon Camp several times, for what purpose I won’t say. What I find most peculiar is this: I have seen several young men on duty wearing red berets with nametags with foreign-sounding names including Burmese and Filipino. However, I have never once seen a Muslim serviceman in the camp, and the camp cookhouse itself has no “Halal” kitchen. The obvious inference here is that Muslims, even local ones are not allowed to serve as SAF Commandos but foreigners are allowed to. Is this really the case, and if so, why are foreigners allowed to serve as commandos but local Muslims barred from doing so?
2. Mr. Nair, local men between the ages of 18 and 21 must serve NS. However, foreign men are exempted from doing so even though they too benefit from the stability that NS brings. Because of this and the fact that no CPF payment for them means that they are 16% cheaper for employers; thus, they enjoy benefits such as earlier enrolment and graduation from universities, no career disruptions caused by reservist call-ups and they’re significantly cheaper than local men of similar age. How does the government intend to compensate the local men for the losses they have to endure for their sacrifice, and if the government has no intention to compensate them, then what sacrifices will the foreign men have to make instead?
3. Mr. Nair, the sons of local single mothers are still Singaporeans who are required to serve NS. Their mothers are still Singaporeans who contribute to nation building and CPF and pay income tax. So why is it then that local single mothers are not entitled to such benefits as the baby bonus or the dollar-for-dollar match-up in their Edusave accounts?
4. Mr. Nair, a single mother is a woman raising her child(ren) alone with minimal support from her (ex-)husband. This means that the PRC study mothers who accompany their children here to study are also single mothers if their husbands are not living and working here, even if they are happily married back home in China. So why then are young PRC scholars given benefits that children of local single parents are denied, especially since the children are entirely innocent of whatever may have transpired between their parents?
5. Mr. Nair, Singapore has been hit by a spate of severe flooding over the past 3 years. It is one thing if a Category 5 typhoon or a tsunami caused these floods; these genuinely are floods that no amount of engineering can prevent. It is something else when they are caused by just heavier-than-normal rain, especially since they occur with distressing regularity as this implies serious environmental mismanagement and even outright negligence on the part of the government. What concrete corrective and preventive measures does the government intend to take to deal with the regular flooding instead of simply blaming climate change thereby implying that nothing can be done to minimize the flooding?
6. Mr. Nair, there are many causes of floods. These include greatly-increased surface runoff resulting from excessive urbanization, excessive construction of concrete tunnels reducing the volume of porous soil to absorb rainwater, covering over of open canals thereby slowing discharge of rainwater runoff into the drainage system and damming of rivers resulting in greatly-reduced water discharge rate. These factors are all present in Singapore; are these factors the true cause of the floods, and more importantly, what does the government intend to do about it?
Mr. Nair, how many foreigners are currently employed in our utility plants? What measures has the government taken to ensure that they don’t try to sabotage these plants should their governments have any issues with us? And what measures has the government taken to ensure minimal disruption to water, gas and electrical supplies should these foreigners all return home suddenly? Shouldn’t these industries employ only locals to minimize the risks of any such potential problems? The reason for this question is very simple; here is a hypothetical scenario that is all too realistic. China and India have an ongoing rivalry between them as well as several territorial disputes. In addition, China is allied to Pakistan, India’s archenemy. And Pakistan has backed several terrorist attacks against India in the past. Supposing Pakistani-backed terrorists commit an atrocity even worse than September 11th and India invades Pakistan in retaliation. China in turn invades India, both to support Pakistan and to seize control of disputed territories. This will be a war that Singapore has absolutely nothing to do with, and yet it will also be a war that can disrupt the lives of and even kill ordinary innocent Singaporeans. For those who don’t see how, just think about this: how many China and Indian nationals are currently working in our water works? Suppose they begin rioting because of the war between their countries and the plants are destroyed as a result. What will happen to our potable water supplies? What are you going to do to ensure that this will never happen? How will you ensure that our water supplies will never be disrupted because of this?
8. Mr. Nair, acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan Jin has already openly admitted that foreign PMETs in our local companies discriminate against employing locals and instead favor their own fellow countrymen. Or in other words, these foreign PMETs are practicing apartheid against our people in our own country. What if anything is the government going to do about this, and what penalties will be imposed upon the companies who employ these foreign PMETs and since then refuse to ensure that they do not practice discrimination against our people? Also, MoM’s labor statistics always lump PRs and citizens together; they do not distinguish between them. Singapore is supposed to have laws demanding that locals make up at least 80% of the workforce. However, since the government apparently does not distinguish between locals and PRs it becomes legally possible for a company to hire a 100% foreign workforce and still comply with MoM’s 80-20 regulation i.e. they employ a workforce complying 80% PRs and 20% non-PR foreigners. Are MoM and TAFEP going to investigate if such unethical practices are actually happening today? And if they do discover companies engaging in such practices, exactly what are they going to do about them?
9. Mr. Nair, according to the Population White Paper, the purpose of flooding the country with so many foreigners is to support our retirees in future. Singapore does not have a pension scheme except for high-ranking public officials. The only logical explanation is that these foreign immigrants are to support retired government officials since they are the only ones who are entitled to pension benefits. How will the taxes paid by the foreigners support our local retirees when they are expected to survive on their own CPF savings and whatever insurance endowments, savings and interests that they have accrued while working, and if not, why must we have to suffer from overpopulation and overcrowding?
10. Mr. Nair, PM Lee said that we are all in this population issue together. Is he going to make all the ministers give up their huge landed properties to make way for public housing and dormitories for foreign immigrants instead of destroying irreplaceable parts of our heritage like Bukit Brown Cemetery? Will he force them to give up their chauffeur-driven limousines to take public transport together with ordinary locals and the foreigners then? Since the ministers all expect us to make sacrifices for the benefit of these interlopers, shouldn’t all of you lead by example first by making the above-mentioned sacrifices first? If any of you refuse to do so for security reasons, are you then implying that these newcomers cannot be trusted but it is okay for the lives of ordinary Singaporeans to be placed at risk through direct contact with them?
11. Mr. Nair, the government has exhorted ordinary locals to learn from the foreigners on how to be cheaper better faster. The NTUC Secretary-General has also openly declared that Singapore does not need minimum wage. Since the people of the country don’t need minimum wage as the government claims, will they walk the talk by slashing your own ministerial salaries by 95% and abolish wage pegging to the top income earners of the country for all the ministers?
12. Mr. Nair, criticisms that we ordinary locals are xenophobic are totally baseless, as we have always welcomed such foreign workers as construction workers and foreign domestic workers. Similarly, we have always welcomed such highly skilled foreign PMETs such as Professor Albert Winsemius, the architect of our early economic miracle. What we object to are the present crop of low-paid, low-skilled foreign PMETs that the government has flooded the country with. What can bankers and IT professionals from India and the Philippines do that they keep landing such jobs at the expense of locals that local bankers and IT professionals cannot? The government is also always saying that we need foreigners to do low paid low skilled high-risk jobs such as construction that locals are too fussy to do. In that case, why don’t you ministers lead by example by getting your own children to work in these sectors at the same low pay and high risk conditions as the foreigners? If you are not willing to risk their own children’s lives and futures by making them work in such sectors then why should ordinary locals risk their children’s lives and futures by making them do such work?
13. Mr. Nair, MoS (Education) Lawrence Wong has openly said that if there are too many local graduates then there will not be enough ITE graduates to do all the menial work. Why then do we take in foreigners on scholarship? Why not give the scholarships to locals and make the foreigners study in the ITEs and do the menial work instead? Why should locals do such menial work while foreigners get high ranking PMET posts and lord it over them? Also, why are post-graduate scholarships handed to foreigners but not to locals? How does this policy benefit the people? If ordinary locals are not entitled to post-graduate scholarships, then shouldn’t ministers’ children also be denied such scholarships because they too are locals and are thus not eligible for them?
14. Mr. Nair, the ministers are also always urging ordinary local parents to send their children to the polytechnics claiming that the future is as good for them as it is for JC students. Also, of late quite a number of ministers including yourself have urged local parents not to send their children to the universities and then to take up such jobs as hawkers and crane operators. If that is the case, then will the ministers send their own children to the polytechnics instead of through the junior colleges and then to the universities, and after that get their own children to become hawkers, cleaners, F&B staff and crane operators etc instead of high paying professional careers like lawyers, doctors and bankers?
15. Mr. Nair, on the issue of public transport, why should public transport fares be increased to pay for the current problems in the MRT system caused by SMRT’s own mismanagement? Why not sue former CEO Saw Phaik Hwa for causing all the problems and make her foot the bill from her multimillion-dollar fortune instead since she failed to run the company properly instead? On the issue of the free MRT travel, WHAT is the real purpose of the 1-year trial? Is it to determine if it is actually possible for the MRT system to cater to a 6.9 million population without costly nation-wide upgrades to the MRT system? And WHO would benefit the most from this exercise? Since most locals would have to get their children ready for school during the stated time period, obviously the people who will benefit most from this are the foreigners since most of them don’t face this situation as their families are back in their native countries, not here, isn’t it?
16. Mr. Nair, former MCYS Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan said that he had no regrets over the Youth Olympic Games even though it went massively over budget. He also added that he didn’t have to slash expenditure in MCYS’ other programs to pay for the cost overruns. Since the sum in question here is so huge that it definitely cannot come from any sort of buffer, then where did the extra money come from if not the reserves? Which beggars the very important question: How much in total have they taken from it to pay for various purposes such as cost overruns on the two casinos and to compensate for financial losses incurred by Temasek Holdings and GIC, and for WHAT purposes? How much money do we still have in the reserves? Is a severe shortfall of money in the reserves the actual reason why the CPF minimum sum keeps being increased radically?
17. Mr. Nair, exactly how much money did Temasek Holdings, GIC and the PAP-run town councils lose in failed investments? Has the money been recovered back in full? If not, then how does the PAP intend to compensate the people for the loss of their money in investments that the people did not authorize? What action if any has been taken against the officials who squandered public funds in this manner?
18. Mr. Nair, can the government explain why it is absolutely necessary to purchase $575/- Herman Miller chairs and $2,200/- Brompton bicycles? What can these luxury items do that much cheaper ones cannot? Why not spend the money on helping needy locals instead of spending it on such costly frivolities?
19. Mr. Nair, PM Lee said that he would need to increase GST to provide more financial assistance to needy locals. He also ruled out increasing healthcare subsidies, presently the lowest in all the developed nations. At the same time, foreign scholars study here for free, live here for free and still receive a living allowance, all at taxpayers’ expense. He also spent vast fortunes on frivolous and entirely unnecessary luxuries and white elephant projects such as Gardens-by-the-Bay, the YOG and the Formula-1 night races. WHY are public funds raised at taxpayers’ expense being squandered on such unnecessary frivolities when the members of the public benefit nothing from them at all? Will the country collapse without them? Obviously not; we never had them before, and the country did perfectly well without them. So why have them at all?
20. Mr. Nair, in recent years, we have had foreigners insulting our people and calling us names, our taxi drivers beaten up by foreigners, public vehicles hijacked by foreigners and at least one case of a foreign family demanding that a local family stop cooking their cultural heritage meal. We have had a 13 year old boy arrested for threatening to blow up Marina Bay Sands, an immigrant waiter threatening to murder Singaporeans who visit his country, a foreign scholar calling our people dogs, another foreign student who made fun of our minorities by claiming that they have black faces from breeding too prolifically and even an immigrant clerk at the National Heart Center insulting the sacrifices made by our NSmen and who went so far as to actually defame the SAF and the institution of National Service. What does the government intend to do about troublemaking foreigners like these who don’t want to integrate with our people but instead act like they are superior to us?
21. Mr. Nair, the government keeps refusing to allow dual citizenship to locals who have served National Service and who have since migrated abroad but who still maintain strong ties with their friends and family members here on the grounds that it would dilute our national identity. How will flooding the country with millions of foreigners who have their own languages, cuisines and cultures distinct from ours strengthen our Singaporean cores and identities, especially when they refuse to accept our ways and integrate with us and instead insist on following their own cultural practices here even if they run contrary to our ways?
22. Mr. Nair, by flooding the country with foreigners and allowing them to buy HDB flats the government has created a property bubble that has driven up the cost of public housing and fueled inflation. Likewise, there is also an increasing demand for land for public housing to meet the needs of the newcomers. Because of this, locals have to pay more. If the MND is serious in bringing property prices down to a sane level, then why support the PWP since it is a formula to drive property prices sky high? Is it because higher property prices and sales mean more income for MND coffers and thus higher GDP and bonuses for the ministers and permanent secretaries? Wouldn’t this mean that the government has a vested interest in keeping property prices sky high? Doesn’t this mean that the government is benefiting itself at the people’s expense then? Wouldn’t the best way for the government to disprove this is to remove pegging ministers’ bonus payments to GDP growth since in this way, the ministers will not benefit from high property prices and thus will have no vested interest in keeping them high?
23. Mr. Nair, there are at least 2.1 million foreigners in Singapore. If each of them remits home just $100/- every month, this will result in a monthly capital outflow of $210,000,000/-. Since many of these foreigners are PMETs earning several thousand dollars a month, they can afford to remit home much more than just $100/-. So exactly how much money is the country losing every month from capital outflow due to these foreigners remitting money home?
24. Mr. Nair, assault & battery and threatening someone, even with death threats are considered non-seizable offenses here. This is a situation that benefits the wealthy over ordinary people since a wealthy person who got punched by an ordinary person can afford to sue him, but an ordinary person cannot afford to sue the wealthy man who hit him. Why is this so? Shouldn’t this be made a criminal offense so that wealthy people who assault ordinary people will have to face justice and imprisonment instead of getting away Scot-free because the people they assaulted cannot afford to sue them?
25. Mr. Nair, under the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, no one shall be deprived of educational or career opportunities or advancement because of race, language or religion. Logically speaking then, the law that states that those who failed Second Language are not allowed to study in junior colleges or enter local university is unconstitutional since it discriminates against the student on the basis of language. Is this law still in place, and if so, why has it not been repealed since it is unconstitutional? And if it has been repealed, then how does the government intend to compensate those who were denied the opportunity to further their studies because they failed their second language?
26. Mr. Nair, Mr. Ho Thiam Poh is the Managing Director of UGL Premas Pte. Ltd., the parent company of Emasco, the company that manages Jurong GRC. He is also the General Manager of Jurong Town Council and the PAP Branch Secretary for Bukit Batok. Similarly, Mr.Ang Mong Seng, the CEO of EM Services Pte. Ltd., the company that manages Sembawang GRC, is a former PAP MP while the Chairman is another former PAP MP, Matthias Yao. The third main estate management company that manages PAP town councils is CPG Pte. Ltd., the privatized former URA, an organization run by government scholars. Similarly, Action Information Management Pte. Ltd. is run by three former PAP MPs and is owned by the PAP. Since these companies all have strong ties to the PAP, isn’t it a clear-cut case of conflict-of-interest to have them involved in managing PAP-run town councils? That being the case, wouldn’t the best way to avoid such conflicts-of-interest would be to have all PAP-run estates managed by opposition-linked companies such as FM Solutions & Services Pte. Ltd. while PAP-linked companies run opposition-run town councils?
27. Mr. Nair, during the AIM debate in parliament, Mr. Khaw Boon Wan said that the one-month notice period that AIM gave to the AHTC was sufficient time to buy standard off-the-shelf accounting software such as MYOB and modify it for the council’s needs. He also said that the town council management system (TCMS) software cost $30,000,000/- to develop and implement. Since by Mr. Khaw’s own admission, standard off-the-shelf accounting software is good enough to do the job, then why did the PAP-run town councils spend $30,000,000/- on customized software instead when using standard off-the-shelf accounting software is much cheaper? Also, since Mr. Khaw said that AIM gave the AHTC a one month notice period of intent of withdrawal of the use of the TCMS, doesn’t this prove that it was AIM that revoked the use of the software from the AHTC rather than the AHTC requesting for its termination? Doesn’t this then directly contradict Professor Teo Ho Pin’s claim that it was the AHTC that wanted to terminate the arrangement?
28. Mr. Nair, according to the MND review of the sale of the town council management system (TCMS) software to AIM, there is no conflict-of-interest since AIM did not make money from it. So here’s the issue: AIM has been around for 22 years unannounced until the AHTC reported its existence. When exactly did it purchase the TCMS software? 2 years ago? 5 years ago? 10 years ago? Where did the money from the purchase come from, and why was a private company allowed to buy software developed at taxpayers’ expense? Also, there’s something that does not add up here. AIM bought the TCMS software for $140,000/-. There are 14 PAP-run town councils. If each council pays a median monthly rental fee of $1,000/- for the use of the software, then that means that AIM has a monthly income of $1,000/- x 14 = $14,000/-. Assuming a 20% corporate tax and operational costs of 30% of gross income, this means that AIM earns $1/- for every $2/- of monthly income i.e. every month AIM will earn $7,000/- out of the monthly income of $14,000/-. This means that to break even, it will take AIM $14,000/$7,000 = 20 months. This is well within the 2 to 3 years break even point for a business to be considered viable. Of course this calculation is wrong as I am making assumptions since I don’t have the actual figures but the principle behind the calculation is correct. That being the case, how is it possible for AIM to not make money, and if so, then to where have all the money that AIM has earned gone?
29. Mr. Nair, Temasek Holdings, GIC and the PAP-run town councils all lost vast sums of money in failed investments. There have been frequent train service disruptions in SMRT caused by poor maintenance. A young man, Dinesh Raman Chinnaiah died in prison after being assaulted by his guards. The police Public Entertain Licensing Unit actually approved the Escape Chapel rave party despite the fact that the promotional material clearly showed that the theme of the party was to mock the Catholic Church. Of all of Chinnaiah’s guards, only the warden has been fined a relatively paltry $10,000/- for negligence resulting in his death. The other guards all escaped unpunished. For the other incidents, nobody has even been held accountable for them, let alone punished. For example, why was Ms. Saw Phaik Hwa allowed to resign from SMRT instead of being fired, and wasn’t her VP (Engineering) also fired for gross dereliction of duty in allowing the system to fail so badly? Why is this so? Don’t the government believe in individual accountability, especially for those whole top-ranking positions? Since these people are all so highly paid, shouldn’t their level of accountability be far higher?
30. Mr. Nair, Economics Professor Christopher Balding of Beijing University claims that there are serious irregularities in the claims made by Temasek Holdings and GIC of their earnings and profitability. His allegations are extremely serious. Are his allegations in fact true? If not, then can the government prove him wrong, backed up with facts and figures that third-party economists can analyze and verify independently? And what about all the reports that Temasek Holdings keeps losing huge sums of money in failed investments? Again, are these allegations in fact true? If they are, then exactly how much money has been lost, and exactly what is the government going to do to compensate the people for the loss of public funds? And if they’re not true, then can the government come forward to openly rebut these allegations with facts backed up with figures?
31. Mr. Nair, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan said that he would only allow citizens and PRs to become hawkers and that he will not allow foreigners to rent hawker stalls. The Ministry of Law has also announced that PRs can serve as magistrates. With all due respect, do any of the ministers that PRs are not citizens, they’re foreigners with residency permits but who still retain the citizenship of their native countries?
32. Mr. Nair, commonsense dictates that all outdoor activity must cease when the air is badly polluted unless absolutely necessary, in which case those carrying out the activity must be issued with protective gear. Likewise, the government had 9.5 million N95 masks in reserve. Why then weren’t these measures imposed during the recent haze crisis until the crisis was almost over? Why did it take the government so long to carry out such commonsense safety measures?
33. Mr. Nair, of late there has been a spate of corruption scandals, including one where an Assistant Director of the CPIB misappropriated $1,700,000/-. Obviously this proves that high pay alone doesn’t discourage corruption. In fact, using the potential of corruption to justify high pay is unrealistic. Since most of us earn far lower than $15,000/- a month, a MP’s salary, does that mean it is okay for us to embezzle or misappropriate money, swindle people, steal things from our employers etc? Obviously not; we’ll face criminal charges won’t we? So in that case, why pay ministers such high salaries for? Wouldn’t it be far better to reduce their salaries by 90% to 95% in keeping with the salaries earned by other national leaders and to impose stiff prison terms on those found to be corrupted? If you say it’s also necessary to retain talent, then let those who demand higher pay leave for the private sector. If they’re really that good as the government claims, they’ll be in a position to come out with innovative ideas to drive the economy forward to the next level. Wouldn’t this be far better for the country?
34. Mr. Nair, one reason PM Lee gave for wanting to license internet news portals is because he are perturbed by the language sometimes used by netizens. Actually, there are already existing laws to deal with such matters. For example, why wasn’t former YPAP member Jason Neo arrested for posting a seditious image on his Facebook wall? Why weren’t PRC scholar Sun Xu, PRC student Wang Peng Fei, Filipina Maribelle Sibuncal and former NTUC assistant director Amy Cheong arrested for posting anti-Singaporean hate speech and insulting our minorities? Why wasn’t Filipino waiter Topher Yakuza arrested for making death threats against locals? Why weren’t foreigners Rachelle Ann Beguia and Jason Chua Chin Seng arrested for interfering in Singapore’s domestic politics? In fact, Jason Chua even made a meme showing that he will be executed once the opposition takes over the government. Shouldn’t he be arrested for sedition for posting such lies, or was Tan Jee Say right about the actual purpose of the ISA all along? Also, why are foreigners like Jason Chua Chin Seng, a Malaysian, and Rachelle Ann Beguia and Maribelle Sibungcal, both Filipinas allowed to interfere in Singapore’s domestic politics, especially since their actions have all inflamed social tensions and threatened social harmony?
35. Mr. Nair, PM Lee want to construct underground cities to accommodate the planned population increase. Here are two problems that you may not have taken into account; 1: with sinkholes opening up with increasing frequency around the country it may be a warning sign that there are too many tunneling works happening in the country and 2: water always seeks the lowest level. With the government unable to control flooding, won’t these underground metropolises become a potential deathtrap in the event of severe flooding? What happens if something goes badly wrong and hundreds or even thousands of people drown when the underground areas flood or the ground above them collapses? What measures does the government plan to take to ensure that things like these will never happen? Moreover, since the tunneling works will displace groundwater and reduce the amount of porous soil to absorb rainwater runoff, won’t this aggravate the flooding situation?
36. Mr. Nair, the purpose of the Lemon Law is to allow us to claim a refund on money we paid for defective goods and shoddy services correct? So since many of us are opposed to such government policies as the 6.9 million population white paper, scholarships for foreigners and no NS liability for them, can we as the customers of the government’s services invoke the Lemon Law to claim back our income tax due to dissatisfaction with the government’s performance and policies?
Vladimir Tepes
Source: MP Hri Kumar’s Facebook page – www.facebook.com/notes/hri-kumar/uniquely-singapore-politics-part-2-the-sounds-of-silence/628550650524869