Two elderly cleaners going through their stuff at Tiong Bahru MRT station (left) and a LRT station at Punggol (right).
Many Singaporeans speculated that these elderly workers have nothing to do at home so they venture out to work. But ask yourself - will you do these menial jobs after retirement in your 60s and 70s just because you are bored at home?
These laborious jobs probably paid at most $1000 a month and in their advanced age, our senior citizens will find these jobs most uncomfortable and their movement really restricted.
Has our CPF retirement system fails us here?
The government has also encouraged the family system to care for one another if we can't retire on our own but if your children are married and struggling themselves, its almost impossible to care for another mouth.
What is the role of our government here then?
Meanwhile, the soverign funds continue to grow to a massive $600 billion-size and there is not even a whimper of a mention that a small percentage of it will be used for our senior citizens. They merely try to gamble it away...
I don't even want to talk about the Pioneer Generation Package...that is like another con job in the mould of CPF - can see but cannot touch!
Gilbert Goh
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/goh.gilbert/posts/10153100888298975