Dear PM Lee Hsien Loong
Thank you and your PAP team for putting your best for Singapore over the years. Under your leadership, the casinos, Garden By the Bay, Bishan River, Project Jewel and Jurong Gateway are some impressive world class infrastructures that aptly represented Singapore's progress and prosperity. However even with these accolades and achievements, today you spoke about a "deadly serious fight" in the upcoming General Elections.
If you have done well, shouldn't you express unwavering confidence that all Singaporeans have benefited from your work and you trust Singaporeans will make the right choice?
Or, somewhere in your blind optimism, you can sense a growing dissent against you and your party? You know there are policies Singaporeans do not compromise or negotiate with. Let's take your salary for example: Singaporeans believe you and your team do not deserve to be paid millions for substandard performance. Where is your sense of shame and honor to address this imbalance?
Oh no, you claimed that your million dollar salary alongside the 26% of the population earning less than $1500 a month is "realistic". When Singaporeans protested against the CPF Minimum Sum, what did you do? Your party launched a series of propaganda coordinated by the controlled-media and various ministries to influence public perception harping away how blessed it is to have CPF instead of taking any constructive actions like raising CPF interest rates or removing the Minimum Sum. Worse, you chose to sue a critic of the CPF policy, you have won the defamation suit but you have lost all respect from the people. People all over the world are now calling you a coward for using your position and power to squash criticisms.
The CPF and million dollar salaries are good national issues, but pardon me, there are better ones. We know you and your PAP team screwed up public transport by raising fares so public transport operators can make record profit from Singaporeans. We know you have also screwed up our housing policies yet your refused to reign in on the prices at the start of the property bubble. We know you have also screwed up education but refused to build more government-subsidized universities for Singaporean students. We also know you have screwed up our population policies, resulting in overcrowding and the influx of cheap foreign labour. We also know you screwed up manpower policies, Singapore just had our first strike and riot, ironically initiated by your beloved foreign talents. We know you screwed up healthcare, otherwise people wouldn't choose death over treatment.
In areas where you claimed you have done well, you have actually screwed up too. Take the economy for example, purchasing power have decreased due to relentless rise in cost of living and depression of wages. You claimed Singapore have high GDPP, yet our people are mostly in debt buying houses with money they do not have. You claimed Singapore have a first world education system, yet our people could not compete with foreigners with university degrees from Philippines and China. You claimed Singaporeans have adequate retirement, but CPF payout is so miserably low our old people who already have problems straightening their back have to wipe tables for a living. You claimed Singaporeans have world class healthcare, yet people are going into bankruptcy after any major illness. You claimed raising the GST will help the poor, yet it turned out the poor become the hardest hit from the waves of inflation which businesses took advantage of by the raise in GST.
Under your esteemed leadership, birth rate is at its lowest, income gap is at its highest, people are the most unhappiest, income is at its lowest, cost of living is at its highest, healthcare costs is at its highest and Singaporeans are working the most hours in the world. Your 11 years in power is evident to prove your incompetence. We don't need another 11 years to tell you that.
Taiwan's ruling party Kuomingtang and President Ma Ying Jeou have acknowledged their failure to serve their people and have since resigned. The Japanese ruling party Liberal Democratic Party has also lost the recent regional election. New leaders like Obama and Jokowi have done exceptionally well. Transparency and accountability has become the new world order. Please acknowledge that Singapore likewise, can survive without the ruling party. There is an army of talents waiting to take the PAP's place who can do better without obscene pay.
Please grow some shame and resign. We need a leader who worries more about our livelihood than the number of votes he'll be getting in the next election.
Regards
Cheated Singaporean
Alex Tan
TRS Contributor