TEMASEK REVIEW
Living up to its reputation as the “nation-building” press, the
Sunday Times published another lop-sided article today to promote
the agenda of its political master, the ruling PAP.
Half a page was taken up with an article about a 85 year old
doorman Mr Chu Chee Ong at the Rendezvous Hotel, in Bras Basah
Road.
It quoted Mr Chu as saying:
“I enjoy talking to people, and work helps to pass the
time faster. If you don’t work, the mind will become blank…..As
long as my health is good, I’ll continue to work.”
The underlying message to Singaporeans is unmistakable: work as
long as you can so long your health permits.
Mr Chu has a son who works as an aerospace engineer. He is
working just to pass his time. What the article failed to mention
is the fact that Mr Chu belongs to the minority of elderly
Singaporeans – many are still slogging well into their 80s because
they need to support themselves.
Though Singapore is the second richest country in Asia after
Japan and its two sovereign wealth funds can afford to fritter away
billions of dollars of hard-earned reserves, Singaporeans enjoy few
social welfare benefits from the government.
PAP leaders, who are the highest paid political office-holders
in the entire world constantly exhort Singaporeans to work for as
long as possible till they drop dead and die.
The CPF scheme which supposedly serves as a sort of pension for
Singaporeans is now recognized to be inadequate as the bulk of it
is tied up with bank loans to finance exorbitant-priced public
housing.
With no alternatives in sight to replace the repressive PAP
government, Singaporeans will have little choice but to follow the
example of Mr Chu and work till they are beyond 85 years of age,
assuming they do not die of stress by then.
