All right, now I have some time, back to disecting NSP menifesto, to see if it is really a good alternative to what the ruling party (PAP) proposes:
Government Expenditure
Benefits:
• More hospital beds. They are advocating spending $800 millions more over the next 5 years to build 4 more hospitals. I question is there really a need for "4" more hospital? I think 1 or 2 more hospitals to serve regions which are rapidly expanding (ex: Punggol/Seng Kang region) is fine, but "4" more will be a waste. In addition, how do they solve the problem of health care manpower shortage, which is currently the case experienced in all hospitals? Training more Singaporean to go into health care as what they said in their Labour manifesto? But will Singaporean take the bait? PAP has tried with limited success, what can NSP offer? Nothing said yet.
• More subsidies for health care. OK, I will agree with this, and if possible, extending the subsidy to private referrals as well for Singaporean.
• Less crowded public transport. They are advocating purchasing 1000 more buses to rent to SMRT and SBS, with the rent collected to provide subsidy for the senior citizen, physically disabled and children. Isn't the government already doing that? Isn't our students paying 45 cents per trip currently instead of the usual 72 cents? What is NSP trying to counter propose in this manifesto? Besides, if SBS and SMRT is to rent the buses from government, this will cause an increase in their expenditure (increase in manpower and vehicle rental cost, which is not cheap), perhaps maybe turning them into a loss making venture. Can I know who will be the one footing their bill when the day comes? The government? And where will the government find the money? The citizen? This is not productive, think about it.
• Transport subsidies for elderly, disabled and full-time students including Polytechnic and University students. See my comments above.
GST
Benefits:
• Lower GST to 5%. Wow, as a citizen, I will cheer, but if you think deeper, you would'nt. Decreasing the GST by 2% will cost the government $1.9 billion. So what measures will the NSP take to cover this shortfall in income? Nothing said in their manifesto. Proposing a measure without a sound overall solution is simply not productive.
• Basic necessities exempted from GST. This sounds good on paper, but in truth, it is easier said than done. What will constitute a necessity? An item might be a necessity to you but it may not be the same for me. Besides, where can NSP cover the shortfall in revenue from the exemption of necessity GST. Back to the same question again. This is not said in their proposed manifesto.
3 comments:
What i don't understand is that why a lot of ppl kept harping on covering back the money gahmen uses?
Do u think the gahmen will "die" without that 1.9 billion?
When PAP started building the country, they were very poor, but they managed to strive and build SG...why is tat the gahmen have the money to help and correct things now, ppl always worried about the gahmen having a "loss". Are they really worried about Sg or worried about their money?
In ur words, money should be save and not touch forever?
Problems will not be solved out of the blue if one doesn't do anything. In this case, if the money is well spent, why not?
Go take a walk along East Coast Park. Try talking to the people who stay in tents and hang their clothes on a clothes line in a pavilion.
This election is not about what you can expect to receive from the ruling party. It is about what the elected member of parliament can do for our fellow Singaporeans. Your vote affects not just you, but your many fellow citizens who are living hard lives because of the high housing cost.
To Kelvin:
Yes, I agree with you that the money is well spend, but we should save during the good times or else, where will we have the money to spend during rainy days? No one knows how long rainy days can last; if we don't recover what we have use, where can we assure that we have the resources to tide us through difficult times? Just look at US, do we want our country to run up 700 million national debt just because we don't have the resources to tide us through 1 finicial crisis?
To: こげパン
For the people living in East Coast Park, I am sure there are various channels of help available, have they tried seeking them? FYI, I agree with you that the election is about what the elected member of parliament can do for our fellow Singaporeans. I already know what the ruling party are doing and what they plan to do so far. Alternatively, I am also seeking what NSP (They are the party seeking election in my constituency, I don't care about other opposition) can counter propose to what the ruling party has already said. So far, seeing 60% of their menifesto, 10 out of 13 points of what they propose is a disaster. If at least they can talk some logical sense (like WP), I will support them, but so far, they have yet to convince me. In addition, what they have propose to do in Tampines should they get elected (to me) is inferior to what the ruling party has proposed
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