Should citizens still trust the PAP?

The PAP claims it has the best and the brightest in the government but, in reality, has managed to deliver only a falling standard of living for ordinary Singaporeans over the past few decades. The PAP has been ignoring our feedback, preferring to focus on how best profit from citizens in all possible ways.

What the PAP has been recently doing confirms it has not understood our concerns; it has continued to dictate to us what they think is “right”. It’s back to Lee Kuan Yew’s “We decide what is right. Never mind what people think”.

PAP uses a ‘cart-before-the-horse’ planning model which it does not intend to discard. Instead of a pause in immigration, the population has actually increased by 286,000 since 3 years ago and this has created other issues in the process. Chronic problems have yet to be resolved. It seems the PAP wants to continue increasing the GDP via population growth because this is its only idea to generate economic growth.

The PAP was again caught with its pants down last year when masks were in short supply during the haze. This year, the PAP engaged in a PR exercise with the distribution of N95 masks to 1.2 million households 11 months after the PSI had hit a record 401 in June last year. Minister Ng Eng Hen says “Singapore has learn 5 key lessons from haze crisis”. But why should Singapore repeatedly need to learn very expensive lessons when the haze has been occurring almost every year?

Why did the government allow alcohol to be consumed by thousands of foreign workers during weekends in public places, understanding the effects of alcohol only after a riot had occured? Can the PAP be trusted to do the ‘right’ thing in future when it has consistently proven to be reactive?

Is it right for the PAP to expect Singaporeans to speak the native language of foreign workers in the food/retail/transport industry? Why were foreign workers not taught to converse in English/Chinese/Malay/Tamil or local dialects before arriving? This does not happen in other countries and is clearly not acceptable.

The PAP government had imprisoned hundreds of political prisoners such as Chia Thye Poh, Dr Lim Hock Siew, etc and ruined their lives as well as those of their family members. Can we trust a PAP which has not faced up to the injustice, preferring to conveniently sweep history under the carpet?

PAP MP Alvin Yeo was recently involved in a case of overcharging (one of 3 lawyers). The amount involved was not a mere $100 or $10,000 but more than $1,000,000. Alvin should have been suspended from practice for grossly overcharging Dr Susan Lim by billing the SMC with an unbelievable amount. Alvin has remained silent throughout the issue and the Law Society has issued a statement to clarify the “alleged overcharging in legal fees” does not mean overcharging. The PAP has wrongly assumed public perception does not matter when its MP is involved. Perhaps only the Law Society believes in its own statement.

The PAP has now set a precedent – all professions have the right to overcharge by any amount less than $1 million. So long as the amount is reduced after a complaint or court hearing, life continues as if overcharging did not occur. The PAP leadership has not only sat on the fence on Alvin’s misconduct but has sent a clear signal that greed is good. Can PAP be trusted when it is not concerned about unethical conduct?

Last August, empty ballot boxes which were supposed to be discarded by contractors/Elections Department were found by two 17 year-old students. Instead of showing the students some appreciation, they were given a warning and counseled by the Police. This was clearly a mistake by the contractors/Elections Department. It seems the PAP could do no wrong and has simply absolved itself of all blame. Can we trust a PAP which does not want to acknowledge and learn from mistakes? Can we trust a PAP which is always quick to push the blame to others?

About a decade ago, the PAP had the option of constructing the 2 casinos/integrated resorts or increase the number of public housing to reduce the shortage. By prioritising the former, the relevant authorities had to deal with in increase in gambling-related problems. Most of the jobs in the integrated resorts were also created for foreigners. Increasing the number of foreigners working in Singapore depresses wages for citizens and has been the shortcut used by the PAP to generate GDP growth. Can a pro-foreigner PAP government be trusted to take care of its citizens?

The PAP has continued to abuse public resources in fault finding missions with opposition MPs and even citizens such as Roy and Han Hui Hui are not spared. A politically-affiliated civil service serves only the PAP and citizens are shortchanged. NParks had clearly not exercised any common sense judgement by knowingly approving a charity event during a protest rally which had seen turnouts of a few thousand ‘protesters’. NParks has now cancelled the permit for the next protest event “on the advice of the police”.

The CPF protest rally acts as a genuine feedback to the PAP government because our MPs have been useless in Parliament. The CPF problem warrants urgent attention. Instead, concerned voices have now been silenced by a statutory board on the advice of the police. Can we trust a PAP which does not want to take concrete measures to address citizens’ concerns?

Citizens had trusted the PAP decades ago and believed that after slogging a lifetime, we could enjoy our retirement. But the PAP had allowed retirement savings to be used to support the world’s most expensive public housing and now tells us to sell our homes to meet any retirement shortfall. Instead of helping retirees enjoy retirement, the government tries to find more menial jobs with low wages for elderly Singaporeans. Can a government which does not take care of those who have greatly contributed to our country’s growth be trusted?

The PAP thinks Singaporeans work because citizens have a choice.

Instead of addressing the issue of low CPF returns, the PAP came up with crap reasons and legislated our CPF savings into a see-no-touch-till-65 retirement account. But the majority of Singaporeans NEED our CPF for immediate use. How OUR hard-earned money is spent is none of PAP’s concern. PAP claims many would squander large sums of our savings on a paradise island called Batam and is determined to ‘protect’ us by withholding our savings.