Below is a netizen's response to Jamus Lim's Facebook post:
That we enjoy a much higher quality of public service than elsewhere is a fact, not only with a certain truth, do not try to downplay this fact with your linguistic calisthenics.
I can choose to feel aggrieved like you said because I am left out of most freebies doled out by the Government but I am also grateful for the fact that my family progressed from a three room flat to a landed property in a single generation because of the level playing field afforded by our G and the system of meritocracy above all else.
Tuition? Never had that but I made it from a low tiered neighbourhood school to our premier junior college and then into NUS business school as did many in my cohort.
One even became an associate professor in SMU and he was my daughter’s prof!
There was 41 of us to a class… compared to today’s 30+… oversized classes? Right….!
Are you even aware of the waiting time for doctors in Hong Kong or even Malaysia in the Government hospitals?
Perhaps your esteemed comrade Dr Leon Periera can enlighten you in this area or do you fellows communicate with each other at all?
Have been a volunteer for more than a decade with 4 years at the helm of my VWO, I can safely tell you that even in any world class system, there will be some who slip through the cracks . We are no exception to this, but what sets us apart is the amount of help that is available.
My overseas visitors were amused to see banners exhorting members of the public to call the ComCare helpline if they know of any family or anyone needing help! Let me know if you need me to post a photo of THAT banner that tickled them.
You expect good things to come free? So typical of your party , of course we need to pay via fees and charges … we do not have rich middle eastern donors who will transfer multi million dollars to us at their whim.
Tell me how big is Singapore? Be thankful that we have among the most sophisticated systems for charging for road usage and high cost of ownership , what is the use of ownership if we turn into a massive carpark during the peak hours?
And of course you conveniently forget to mention that we have affordable world class public transport to counter the need for car ownership.
Our public housing system is among the best anywhere, first world or otherwise so unless you fellows can come up with something better, I would suggest you cockle your mouths.
Take land cost out of housing? Sure! What about the middle class that you started out trying to show your commiseration for? Will they need to pay for the land that their 99 year leasehold condos are built on? Where is the fairness you were trumpeting about earlier on?
And I am shocked that as an economist, you failed to note that the GST is a consumption tax, the less fortunate are given rebates that will last them a fair while , of course this does not apply for your kombucha lifestyle but then you are nowhere near less fortunate.
A rich man buys a Patek Phillipe watch for $150,000 and he get taxed 8% which works out to a cool $12000, an ordinary salaried worker buys a Casio G Shock for $200 and pays $16 in taxes, tell me who contributes more to our coffers ? And not forgetting that the salaried worker gets lots of freebies from the G which the rich don’t!
Glad you realise too, the pressures on our MOF who have to balance increasing social needs associated with an ageing population with the taxes needed to pay for meeting these needs.
Indeed we must make our votes count and mine goes to the party that can provide solutions, not empty promises and destructive criticism.
And warm cockles go rancid very quickly in our tropical climate.
