Voting with your head or heart? You can do both When making a comparison between the PAP and WP teams, one should consider, how much the WP has done with its limited resources, and how much more it can do when it has the resources of five elected MPs. If I were a resident of Aljunied, choosing to support WP there would be a very rational and logical decision indeed, as well as one that will go down well with my heart and conscience! My new book: Singapore version 2.0 I am happy to announce the publication of my first book, Singapore version 2.0: Alternative proposals for a better Singapore. My book is now on sale at my blog. You can go to geraldgiam.sg/book to place an order and it will be mailed to you. My interview with the Straits Times This is an excerpt of an interview I had with the Straits Times, published on 9 July 2010, shortly after I was elected to the Workers' Party's Central Executive Council. My interview on Yahoo! Fit to Post This is a video interview I had with Yahoo! Singapore on their news feature Fit to Post, published on 14 and 16 July 2010. I shared about why I joined the Workers' Party and what I think the key issues affecting Singaporeans are. Sylvia Lim grills Home Affairs, Environment Ministers Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim asked several questions in Parliament yesterday, two of which touched on issues which have hit a raw nerve of many Singaporeans, namely the frequent flooding across Singapore and the security lapse at the MRT depot. Workers’ Party Open House I will be on my first duty as a CEC member at the Workers’ Party Open House. Date: Monday, 19 July 2010 Time: 8 – 9.30pm Venue: 216G Syed Alwi Road #02-03 (click for map) All are welcome  to drop by to find out more about the Workers’ Party or just for a chat. Hope to see you there! The PAP’s obsession with GDP growth Following the publication of the Economic Strategies Committee report earlier this year, we were supposed to be restructuring our economy. Growth was supposed to be slower, and led by productivity gains, not manpower inputs. Yet, the other headline today directly contradicts this: “100,000 foreign workers needed: PM”. After a drop of just 4,200 foreigner numbers last year due to the downturn, the PAP’s “open-the-floodgates” immigration policy is back with a vengeance. So much for all their promises of “moderating” the inflow of foreigners. Opposition wards achieve more with less The Straits Times carried a commentary by one of its journalists today criticizing the Government’s handling of the Town Council Management Report (TCMR). The journalist gave the Government “at best an E -” grade for “effort”. In other words, the Government failed miserably. (In the ‘O’ levels, a ‘D’ is already a failing grade.) My 13 June blog [...] “You may wish to get involved in…political organizations” It is my hope that despite the practical restrictions, with better access to alternative political ideas through the Internet, more of our undergrads will have their political awakenings while on campus, just like I did 13 years ago while studying at USC. Workers’ Party visits Bedok South The Workers' Party's Eastern Area Committee (EAC) conducted our house visits in Bedok South yesterday evening. As always, we had an enriching time chatting with residents and understanding their concerns about life in Singapore. Residents we met expressed appreciation for our visit. Where have all the engineers gone? Have we gotten to a point where our employers and the government don't even bother recruiting local engineers and immediately recruit from overseas? Will this not create vicious cycle whereby bright Singaporean students avoid studying engineering in university because they know that once they graduate they will have to compete with an onslaught of cheaper foreign engineers? Can we really build up and sustain a knowledge based economy without a core of local scientists and engineers driving it? A “learning experience” for weak leaders Is this what we pay our Ministers millions of dollars a year to do? To deflect responsibility to their subordinates when things go wrong, but bask in the limelight and taking credit for the hard work those same civil servants put in on other occasions? High-level Ministry departures a sign of impending election? Perhaps one of the clearest signs that an election is looming, apart from the release of the Electoral Boundaries Report, are the sudden resignations of senior civil servants. This week, we saw one such resignation. After a game of musical chairs at the Ministry of National Development (MND) and its agencies, URA and HDB, it has emerged that BG Tay Lim Heng, deputy secretary at MND, has "left to pursue other interests". ‘Underwhelmed’ by Town Council report Residents are personally affected by their Town Councils' performance. If they feel that their MPs are not performing, they would have voted them out long ago. But the two opposition MPs have been returned to office again and again for the last 18 to 25 years--longer than any other PAP MPs save one. Why does MND suddenly feel the urge to tell residents what they should think of their TCs? MINDEF’s culture of secrecy While obviously I do not expect MINDEF to be open and transparent about its military strategy, doctrine and operational plans, I don't see why they cannot be upfront about training accidents or incidents where soldiers are seriously injured. It's bad enough that they took two months to report the first incident, but why couldn't they report the second incident without being asked? Need a seat? Just ask for it! By asking people for a seat, you are doing other needy people a favour by reinforcing social norms that able-bodied persons are obliged to give up their seats those who need it more. If these people know that they are going to be asked, they are more likely to pro-actively do it next time. Is Clause 258 really a reproduction of a section of the Evidence Act? Clause 258 appears to be a reproduction of s.29 of the Evidence Act (SG). However, s.2(2) Evidence Act (SG) clearly provides that it is a “subordinate Act”. Legally, it means that when part of the provisions of the Evidence Act is inconsistent with other Acts of Parliament, the affected part would be deemed repealed for that purpose (or as far as the subject matter of the trial goes). The Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), which is a full Act, will therefore prevail against s.29 of the Evidence Act. Criminal Procedure Code: Tilting the law in their own favour Some of the proposed changes to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) make me wonder just how far this government will go to tilt the playing field in their own favour, even when it means compromising on the fundamental rights that people in many other developed countries enjoy. WP Forum Speech: We can make public housing affordable again This is the speech I delivered at the Workers’ Party public forum, Youthquake, on 15 May 2010. ——————- The drastic increase in the cost of public housing over the past 20 years, and in particular the last two years, has caused a financial squeeze for many Singaporeans, particularly young couples who desire to own their own homes [...] Speaking at Workers’ Party forum this Saturday I will be speaking at the WP forum YouthQuake this Saturday. I will present some proposals on ways to moderate the prices of HDB flats for the long-term good of Singapore. I would like to invite all my readers to come and participate in this forum. I look forward to meeting you there! Details are below: CAN YOUNG [...] Workers’ Party Labour Day Message 2010 In the midst of a positive outlook and relative optimism, the Workers’ Party salutes the Singaporean Worker who has again braved the economic storm and weathered the dark clouds by responding to the challenges of a rapidly changing world. We should move forward together as a nation towards a brighter tomorrow. Parliament is not a Feedback Unit, says Sylvia Lim Sylvia Lim stated the Workers’ Party’s opposition to the changes to the Constitution to allow for more NCMPs, saying that the root causes of our current problems (with the electoral system) are the abuse of the GRC system and gerrymandering. Click here to watch the video. UK election debate: Lib Dems come out tops I think Clegg has done a good job in sticking to his key message--"fairness"--and portraying his party as a credible choice apart from Labour and the Tories. Opposition parties in Singapore should study the Lib Dems and learn lessons on how a minor party can punch above its weight at the polls against the incumbent powers. Training your rice bowl away During weekly house visits with my Workers’ Party colleagues last week, a resident related to us a story which gave me a sinking feeling about the future of our workers in Singapore. He told us that he conducts courses for many unemployed workers undergoing skills upgrading or conversion. He said he had a trainee who was [...] Tackling income inequality should be Govt’s top priority Our national productivity drive needs to start from the top. We currently have three very senior ministers advising the PM, three ministers in the Prime Minister’s Office—two of them without any portfolio—nine ministers of state and six parliamentary secretaries, most of whom are drawing multi-million dollar salaries. Does the prime minister of such a small country really need so many advisers and ministers assisting him? Low Thia Khiang: Don’t cut pay of workers who reach 60 This was a speech in Parliament on 11 March 2010 by MP for Hougang, Low Thia Khiang, during the Committee of Supply debate, on the budget for the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Read other Workers’ Party speeches and statements at wp.sg. ————- By 2012, the re-employment legislation will require employers to offer re-employment to workers [...] Low Thia Khiang: Give part-time and contract workers have good training opportunities This was a speech in Parliament on 11 March 2010 by MP for Hougang, Low Thia Khiang, during the Committee of Supply debate, on the budget for the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Read other Workers’ Party speeches and statements at wp.sg. ——————– As at June 2009, there were 87,400 resident employees on short term contracts of less than three [...] Sylvia Lim: Tier electricity pricing to favour small consumers While offsets to low-income households will be useful while it lasts, an additional idea is to have a tiered system of pricing electricity in favour of small consumers. The fundamental idea is for a threshold level of power consumption by households to be determined. Households consuming less than the threshold level will enjoy a low tariff charge. With increasing consumption levels, the tariff escalates. The higher tariff collected in the upper tiers can be used for 2 purposes: to cross-subsidize the first tier tariff, and to encourage all households not to over-consume electricity. Raymond Lim once proposed a way for “completely free” public transport Actually Minister Raymond Lim had once proposed a way to have completely free public transport. Here's what he said about public transport concessions during a constituency visit back in 2008. Sylvia Lim asks for concessionary travel for disabled on public transport According to a 2001 MOH survey, less than 2 per cent of Singaporean adults below 60 have some sort of disability. Is the number of disabled too much for the PTOs? The PTO’s operations are reaping profits of tens of millions of dollars annually and this is part of their corporate social responsibility.