Friday, 31 July 2009, 5:44 pm | 3,760 views
Andrew Loh / Contribution from Leong
Sze Hian
Mr Eric J Brooks is a happy man – happy with how Singapore is.
In his letter to the Straits Times Forum Page on 31July, his
effusive praise for the Singapore government is unabashed. “After
living and working in six countries, I have known for a long time
that no country takes care of its people the way Singapore does,”
he writes.
Mr Brooks is a Canadian, according to the Straits Times letter’s
heading, “A Canadian writes – Be grateful, Singapore”.
Coming on the heels of the recent Temasek Holdings fiasco of
Charles Goodyear’s premature departure and revelation of hefty
losses, Mr Brooks’ praises of the government somehow ring hollow.
Referring to Singapore’s economy which, he said, “has recovered
from the collapse faster than any other country”, he lauded
Singapore’s “years of good economic management.”
He went on to compare his native Canada with Singapore – from
public housing to rubbish collection, from sheltered walkways to
service and conservancy fees. Singapore comes out tops in all these
areas, as far as Mr Brooks is concerned.
One would take Mr Brooks’ words with a pinch of salt –
especially when in the same Straits Times edition of 31 July where
his letter was published, this headline appeared on page three:
And followed by this on the front page of the Home section of
the same day:
Evidently, Singapore has not “recovered from the collapse”, as
Mr Brooks mistakenly claims. In fact, government ministers have
repeatedly warned against assuming this. “It’s too early to tell”
is a common and regular refrain from ministers.
We do not know how well Mr Brooks knows Singapore or Singaporean
life. We also do not know how long he has lived here – if he is
living here at all. His letter does not say. Perhaps Mr Brooks
should not dwell too much on the superficial, such as covered
walkways or rubbish collection, but look deeper at the real
issues.
Here are a few he should ponder on:
- 750,000 people don’t have any kind of medical insurance.
- 116,600 unemployed (resident unemployment rate of 6%) without
any unemployment benefits.
- Only 3,000 people qualify for Public Assistance of $360 a
month.
- Elderly working for $600 a month as cleaners with only 2 days
off a month.
- Elderly collecting used aluminium drink cans and used
cardboard boxes for $1.30 and $0.40 per kilogram respectively.
- One of the highest public transport fares to bottom 10% income
ratio in the world.
- Bottom 10% of employed households have per capita monthly
income of only $360.
- 417,000 roll-over their credit card debts – one of the highest
in the world.
- One of the highest public housing price-to-median income ratio
in the world.
- 40% have less than $40,000 in their CPF at age 55, and average
only have $60,000+, when the CPF Minimum Sum is now $117,000.
- Highest ministers’ pay to average income ratio in the
world.
- HDB visited 60,000 HDB flat-dwellers last year who had
difficulty paying their mortgages.
- In the United States, typically when you default on your home
mortgage, you just lose your home. In Singapore, you may lose your
home, life CPF savings and may be made bankrupt too.
Finally, Mr Brooks should note that it was only about four
months ago that a survey by life insurer AXA found that
Singaporeans were the least optimistic about the future among
citizens of eight Asian countries. This was reported by
Channelnewsasia:
Angela Lau, head, Branding & Communications, AXA Life
Insurance Singapore, said: “They’re not so confident about their
health and career, and how they are going to cope with the
challenges in life. For the career perspective, they are actually
very concerned about job security.”
On reflection, Mr Brooks’ letter is not a surprise, given that
National Day is around the corner and our “nation-building” Straits
Times is up to its old tricks again.
Mr Brooks’ letter occupies prime space in today’s forum page –
right at the top with that big bold headline exhorting Singaporeans
to “be grateful”, from a foreigner no less.
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