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. Sylvia Lim: Increase size of cohort entering local universities Currently, the proportion of Primary One cohort admitted into the local subsidized universities is targeted to rise to 30% by 2015, with the new university and institute coming up. I would like to ask if MOE will review this 30% target with a view to increasing it. Sylvia Lim: R&D spending needs to be accounted for I agree that it is necessary for Singapore to invest heavily in R&D for our nation’s future. However, it is critically important to measure the output and impact of our R&D investments to ensure that it is money well-spent. This is admittedly not an easy task. The results from research may take years to materialise, and some R&D may be undertaken for strategic reasons, the benefits of which may not be easy to quantify. Nevertheless, any public spending needs to be accounted for. Low Thia Khiang: Access to good mentors key to helping entrepreneurs succeed While financing is important, access to good mentors is equally key to help these entrepreneurs succeed. Are there sufficiently experienced mentors available to advise our entrepreneurs? If not, are there plans to invite successful business founders or venture capitalists from places like the Silicon Valley to provide sound advice to these start-ups and evaluate their business plans? Low Thia Khiang urges Govt to “seriously look” into housing options for homeless How can we aspire to be a First World country with a world class public housing programme if we have homeless citizens camped out in public parks? The HDB’s proposition for those who are unable to purchase a HDB flat or to qualify for a HDB rental flat is to seek help for accommodation from family members. The HDB should know well that with the size of HDB flats, most families do not have a spare room to accommodate another distressed close family member’s family. The end result would be strained relationships between family members which could adversely impact the family structure as a basic unit of our society. Is the creation of more strained family relationships desirable? Low Thia Khiang: It should not be all about economic benefit We should guard against looking at all available resources from the economic benefit perspective. We must not forget the ultimate aim of any economic benefit derived from our policies will only be meaningful if the outcome is a better society with happier citizens. Sylvia Lim asks for transparency in electoral boundaries report The government must know that Singaporeans are skeptical about the re-drawing of electoral boundaries. It would be an improvement to have advanced notice and some transparency in this process. Growth must improve welfare of Singaporeans: Sylvia Lim Our ultimate aim of growth is to improve the welfare of all citizens. GDP is not an adequate indicator of welfare, and the government’s pursuit of growth in the recent years has had serious side-effects on the quality of life, and social cohesion. Low productivity not our workers’ fault: WP’s Low Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang has slammed the PAP government for seemingly suggesting that Singaporean workers have only themselves to blame for their low incomes, because of their low productivity and skills. He said it was easy to blame our local workforce for low productivity when it was the Government which opened the floodgates to foreign workers. Comments to Wanbao about Singapore’s social welfare system The local Chinese evening daily, Lianhe Wanbao (联合晚报), emailed me earlier this week to ask for my comments on Singapore’s social welfare system. This was with reference to the article in The Economist (”The stingy nanny”), which I blogged about on 15 February. The Wanbao article appeared this evening. The following are my responses to the [...] The Economist calls Singapore a ’stingy nanny’ The respected British weekly, The Economist, has published a cutting criticism of Singapore's social safety net in its latest edition dated 13 February 2010, titled "Welfare in Singapore: The stingy nanny". Here are some excerpts. What’s missing from Economic Strategies Committee report These are just a few proposals that could help SMEs and entrepreneurs in Singapore. I believe that growing our local private enterprises holds the key to our next phase of economic growth, which unfortunately the ESC has overlooked. Foreigners pay more, but what’s in it for Singaporeans? In its latest political move in preparation for the election, the PAP government has decided to reduce health subsidies given to Singapore permanent residents (PRs) by 10% this year and another 10% in 2011. This comes hot on the heels of the recent increase in fees for PRs and foreigners studying in local schools. Back in 2008, [...] Why I joined the Opposition It has been just over a year since I joined the Workers’ Party as an ordinary member. Although I declared months ago in the “About Me” section of my blog that I am a WP member, this will mark my first full blog post about my involvement with the opposition. YouthQuake 6 – The Influence of Online Media on Singaporean Youths The Workers' Party Youth Wing will be holding its sixth session of its YouthQuake series this Saturday at the Workers' Party HQ. Silver lining in the church attacks It seems these unfortunate incidents are forcing many Malaysians into a time of introspection. The reset button on race relations will have to be hit. Hopefully cool heads will prevail over impetuous acts of bigotry. This could the the silver lining in this whole sad saga. Military is no place for foreigners I am of the view that non-Singaporeans should be prohibited from being members of our security services, especially the military. Training real “thinking soldiers” The SAF's idea for current affairs discussions between commanders and soldiers is something along the lines of what I suggested three years ago in an article written for Singapore Angle (reproduced on my blog) titled “Israel’s unprepared reservists: Could the thing happen to Singapore?”. Fixing a problem that doesn’t exist Why does this government have so much time on their hands to solve non-existent problems? When was the last time we had anything close to a riot on Polling Day? Not that I know of in the last 50 years. But perhaps our far-sighted government is preparing for a “freak event”. Where is Singaporekini? Former journalist Cherian George wrote a piece entitled, “Malaysiakini turns 10. So where’s Singaporekini?” My hypothesis is that we don’t have a Singaporekini (i.e., an alternative media outlet that enjoys broad readership) simply because we haven’t found our Steven Gan and Prem Chandran — a combination of an experienced journalist and a good business mind to [...] PUB knew canal was not big enough but didn’t act? I don't expect to have no floods in Singapore, and I think Singaporeans are willing to forgive the occasional lapse in planning that leads to floods of this nature. But I would have expected at least an ounce of contrition on the part of the Minister for his ministry's failure to act on a known problem in time. Instead, Singaporeans just got excuses and extreme examples. "Sorry" seems to be the hardest word for our leaders to say. My struggle with Chinese Hearing MM Lee Kuan Yew admit that his bilingual policy caused generations of students to pay a heavy price because of his "ignorance" made me feel somewhat vindicated, after the years of struggling with learning Chinese in school. Was our phenomenal GDP growth worth selling our soul for? When I listen to the painful experiences of ex-political detainees like Dr Lim Hock Siew, I question whether our phenomenal GDP growth over the past 40 years was worth selling our soul for (if indeed the two were interchangeable). Would I settle for a less developed country that did not have such a shameful past? It's a hard question to answer, even though the morally correct answer should be obvious. How schools kill creativity "Kids will take a chance. If they don't know, they'll have a go. They're not frightened of being wrong...If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." Lower voting age to 18 before next election Singapore is part of a small and shrinking club of stragglers that still require their citizens to be 21 to vote. For the vast majority of democracies in the world, the voting age is 18. I hope the government can revisit this issue and do the right thing for Singapore by reducing the voting age to 18 before the next election. Pandas can be dangerous if provoked It's interesting that the behaviour of pandas quite accurately mimics their country of origin. China is ostensibly opposed to colonialism and interference in other countries' domestic affairs, but hypersensitive and emotional when provoked. Singapore’s national interests vis-a-vis China Our national interest is to see a growing and prosperous China that is at peace with its neighbours and the rest of Asia. But China may not be the benevolent power that it has been claiming to be for the past 10 years. Stop comparing Singapore with Third world countries Why are we, a developed country, being compared with Third world countries all the time? Shouldn't we compare ourselves with other First world countries like Taiwan, Korea, New Zealand, Denmark and Netherlands? Grassroots advisers are not accountable either While opposition MPs have no legal obligation to carry out national programmes on the Government’s behalf, neither do the grassroots advisers, since they are just volunteers, and not paid officers of the Government. On the other hand, elected MPs are accountable to their constituents.