12/09/2006

Being poor in Singapore

What is life like being poor in Singapore? For a start, you get to attend the best kindergarten classes provided by the PAP. And they are good. But the rich will have their children enrolled in enrichment and creative thinking classes for their precious offsprings, like Montesorri, Tumble Tots etc. Next comes schooling and the poor will have plenty of choices to attend neighbour schools. The rich too attend schools in their neighbourhoods. All is fair and the school system is based on meritocracy. Your results count. While the poor will have to help their parents selling kueh or chee cheong fan, the rich will have the best tutors to guide their children plus all kinds of artistic or musical classes to give them an all rounded education and be more sophisticated. It is a level playing field but they play in different fields in different neighbourhoods. And for housing, the poor should be glad that they can live comfortably with room sizes that are not more than 15 sq metres. And they can also expect to make do with 70 to 90 sq metres for a family of 4 to 10. And they are also encouraged to produce more children too. That will help to improve the household income. 5 adults working could mean $5000 monthly income. That must be rich beyond words. And of course the poor don't pay taxes, I mean the lower income, not necessarily poor, hardly pay any income tax. Isn't that heaven? GST is not income tax. Please do not be mistaken. It is just consumption tax. And because the poor consume less, they really pay lesser GST. Now that is equitable definitely. Now better still, with higher GST the lower income can expect to get more in return from the GST they paid. where else can one find such a great deal? As for personal hygiene, the poor are encouraged to bath with lesser water to save money on the expensive water bill. Better not to bathe at all. Then can save more water. And if there is any body odour, never mind. It will become a great advantage in the world class MRT that is expected to pack everyone in tightly like sardine. Now you see how advantageous it is not to bathe? At least people will try to keep clear of you in the train and you will enjoy more personal space. And then there are all kinds of help schemes for the poor, school bursaries, food vouchers, subsidies, doles etc. All they need is to report themselves and let them do a little means testing to qualify. And if hospitalised, don't worry, they will make sure that they get into the best ward befitting their income. All Singaporeans deserve to be put in better wards if they can afford it to receive better medical care. Only those who are really unable to afford it will be put into the lower class wards. As for their money or savings in the CPF, they will be carefully kept and managed for their retirements. Once they pass 62, they will be able to enjoy in comfort the monthly allowance returned to them by the CPF. All of them will retire rich even if they are not that rich when young. It is so good to be poor and to be taken care of from birth to death.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

you are such a cry baby!

Anonymous said...

not forgetting that you are also a loser...

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

haha,

you sure you earn more than me?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

actually i may want to start a thread just to praise the govt for all the good things it has done.

would anyone be interested to say good things? anonymous, maybe i give you the honour to start it and i assure you that i will contribute some good things in it too.

how?