January 13, 2010
PAP MP Lee Bee Wah who was famous for her “indiscreet” public
remarks, may have hit another raw nerve among Singaporeans again by
questioning the Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) to help elderly
workers who just left their jobs.
The EAP is intended to help workers tide over the period while
they are looking for alternative employment or attending courses.
While Mr Gan did not reveal the range of EAP amounts, a previously
cited figure was between three and six months.
In a desperate bid to enourage employers to offer re-employment
to retiring workers, the Manpower Ministry has come up with a
series of guidelines to ensure that they re-hire workers who are
medically fit and whose performance is up to mark.
Though Singapore is the second richest country in Asia after
Japan and its two sovereign wealth funds can afford to lose
billions of dollars of national reserves in risky overseas
investments, its citizens enjoy few social welfare benefits from
the state.
All Singaporeans have to contribute 20 per cent of their monthly
income to a compulsory nationwide pension scheme called Central
Provident Fund or CPF in short. However, with their CPF being
depleted to pay for over-priced public housing, many of them have
hardly sufficient savings left in their twilight years.
As such, elderly Singaporeans have to continue working well
beyond their retirement age to support themselves as the ruling
party will not help them in anyway. In fact, its leaders have been
exhorting Singaporeans to “work as long as they can” (till they
drop dead)
Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong told parliament yesterday that a
minimum and maximum sum will be stipulated for the EAP to ensure
“it is not too little or too large”.
He was responding to Ms Lee Bee Wah who “had wondered if such a
payment would create financial hardship, especially for smaller
firms.”
Ms Lee did not elaborate more on how small firms will be
affected by the EAP. It appears she is not too interested if
Singapore workers are able to support themselves financially after
they retire.
Actually, it is understandable that Ms Lee is unable to
empathize with elderly Singaporeans since she is a Malaysian by
birth and Malaysians probably have an easier time than Singaporeans
due to their relative lower cost of living which explains why quite
a number of Malaysians choose to remain as a Singapore PR only and
decline to take up citizenship.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/01/13/pap-mp-lee-bee-wah-paying-retiring-workers-creates-hardship-for-employers/