Singapore Elections 2011: The Policies I Like the Best

Let me first confess.  Most of the time I can be quite an air-head, and in the past I was carefree, ignorant and quite apathetic.  Then life became not so carefree.  This year I have woken up. Perhaps it’s the passion of so many people sacrificing for the country. The feeling that there is hope.  If you’re not in Singapore right now, you are missing out on the electrifying atmosphere.

I am quite hazy about all the policies out there and so are the people around me, so I decided to do a search of the various party websites and pick out my favourite policies. Just the ones that immediately stood out and spoke to me.

Personally I would like to see more done to prevent any form of discrimination at work – regardless of race language or religion like our pledge says.  There are guidelines in place, but I wish more could be done especially in relation to language.  I would also like to see citizens being protected when it comes to jobs etc and to have a more consultative government where as a citizen I feel that my views really matter and can make a difference.  I love that SDP has promised to donate half their allowance towards service and a fund for the needy.  That promise impressed me the most.

I also think it’s cool that our PM just said this:

It is good that we are contested, and contested strong……… the voters decide, we will abide by them. That’s what elections are about.

SDP

  • To contribute 50% of our MP’s allowance to improve our party’s service to you and to seed an endowment fund for the needy.
  • Abolish the GST for essential items and foodstuffs, and reduce other items to 3%.
  • Introduce the Singaporeans First Policy to ensure that Singaporeans are given priority for jobs and stop the PAP from overcrowding our city.
  • Reduce cost of medications, consultation fees, polyclinics and hospitals.
  • Introduce minimum wage laws
  • Free the Media
  • To take care of our elderly poor and retirees, we need an urgent overhaul of our social security system including our CPF scheme. The present system is woefully inadequate for a population that is seeing its proportion of elderly growing rapidly.

 

WP

  • Low wage workers’ wage supplements, including for the self-employed, should have higher cash components, be paid out more regularly and be pegged to cost of living.
  • A Board of Equal Opportunity should be set up to ensure that there is no discrimination in employment on the basis of age, race, religion, gender or disability.
  • A compulsory Basic Hospitalisation Scheme with co-payment of the premium from the government should be implemented. The scheme should aim to achieve universal coverage for all basic hospital care at a standard premium rate regardless of age. The premium should be affordable for up to 90th percentile of the working population.
  • A Privacy Act should be enacted to ensure that ordinary citizens’ rights to privacy are protected.
  • Mandatory sentences for capital offences should be removed as they take away the discretion of the judge to adjust a sentence to suit the individual case circumstances. Parliament can set limits on the degree of discretion, depending on the offence.

 

RP

  • Universal health insurance to be funded through current CPF contributions replacing current Medisave and Medishield schemes.
  • A Minimum Wage to encourage businesses to raise productivity.
  • Reforms to Foreign Worker Policy to ensure that business gets the skilled labour it needs but that our own citizens come first.
  • Increased assistance for older workers and women re-entering the labour market to retrain and acquire new educational qualifications.
  • Reduction in NS to 18 months initially with aim to reduce it to one year as soon as feasible.
  • Requirement for new citizens and PRs to do NS or to pay lump sum tax instead.
  • Privatization of Temasek and GIC and distribution of equity to Singaporean citizens of more than five years standing.
  • Abolish restrictions on freedom of expression to encourage creativity and innovation necessary for a 21st century knowledge-based economy.
  • Reduce waste and inefficiency in government starting with slashing ministerial salaries and replacing it with performance-linked earnings tied to indicators directly related to your welfare.

 

PAP

  • Multiracial:  A Singaporean Singapore that belongs equally to all citizens, where every individual, regardless of race, language, and religion is assured of justice and fairness.
  • Compassionate:  We must be able to instinctively empathise with our people. We CAN FEEL their worries, concerns, as well as share their hopes and dreams.

 

NSP

  • Singapore should only start growing its population gradually (from the current 5 million) when its infrastructure is ready. The mistake of sudden population growth without proper planning should never be repeated.
  • Citizens should be entitled to foremost priority for the engagement of workforce.
  • The Government should establish a minimum living wage policy to protect low-wage earners from being exploited.
  • The current schemes for the employment of foreigners (eg. Employment Pass) are too lax and should be revised in view of the increased local under-employment.
  • An Equal Opportunity Commission should be established to prevent employment discrimination.
  • The mainstream media should not be in any way controlled or come under the influence of the Government. In particular, the dailies, radio and television should be left opened to free and fair trade competition, but remain free from any form of government ownership.
  • Partisan websites and websites on political issues should be free from Government regulation and/or intervention.
  • HDB should resume its core responsibility in the provision of quality public housing for the masses at cost-plus prices.
  • HDB should review its income ceiling cap for the purchase of new flats, on a five-yearly basis.
  • HDB flats owned by PRs should be prohibited from resale within 8 years’ of ownership, and any profit realised from the sale thereof should be subject to taxation to prevent speculation. Such flats should also be prohibited from being leased out either wholly or in part.
  • The Internal Security Act should not be abused to suppress political dissidents or to create fear amongst the electorate. All political / security detainees should be entitled to fair trials, within three months after their detention.

 

SPP

  • The true voice of common Singaporeans must include not only those who benefit from current governmental policies, but also include the “sandwiched-class” and the “left-behind”, whose needs are not being adequately addressed by these same governmental policies.
  • The true voice of common Singaporeans needs to be heard, respected, responded to and addressed, and not just pacified, placated and managed through hand-outs, gifts and short-termist “band-aid” policies.
  • democratically-elected parliament where every Member of Parliament is voted in on his/her own right, in a transparent “One Man One Vote” electoral system.
  • governmental policies must not only benefit or reward Singaporeans across the income divide, but also lead to reduction of income disparity.
  • proactive, real-term governmental policies to address and reduce the current income disparity through a combination of measures derived collaboratively through a multi-party system.

About bookjunkie

Blogging about life in Singapore & recently cancer too.
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3 Responses to Singapore Elections 2011: The Policies I Like the Best

  1. Pingback: Daily SG: 28 Apr 2011 « The Singapore Daily

  2. Valerie says:

    Just what I need – a summarised key policies of the various parties. Good post! Why is the PAP’s policies so short? Did they mention any changes to immigration policy?

    • bookjunkie says:

      These are just the policies that stood out for me when I first looked at them. But for me the Opposition ones seem to go more into detail. This was from some time ago. Not sure how they have been updated since. Guess you can check out the respective websites for more detail 🙂 Thanks for commenting Valerie…but I won’t be posting soon cos of cooling day tomorrow 🙁

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