October 25, 2009 by admin
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From our correspondent
Singapore’s Manpower Minister Mr Gan Kim Yong has rejected calls
to restore the CPF for older workers after the age of 50 “in order
not to disadvantage these workers in the competition for jobs.”
“If we were to raise the CPF now or restore the CPF for older
workers, it may adversely affect the competitiveness of the workers
and the competitiveness of companies,” Mr Gan said.
Currently, Singaporeans above the age of 50 have their
employers’ CPF contributions cut from 14.5 per cent to 10.5 per
cent.
A disgruntled Singaporean by the name of Kumar wrote in to the
ST Forum lately expressing dismay at the cut:
“The cut is steep – from 14.5 per cent to 10.5 per cent –
and affects older Singaporeans like me drastically.
Not only must I still pay off my debt to the Housing Board
for my mortgaged flat on diminished income, but the price hikes are
also eating into the rest of my salary,” he wrote.
Mr Kumar’s plight is shared by many Singaporeans in his age
group. Many are struggling to pay off their housing mortages and
support their families at the same time, leaving them with little
savings in their CPF for retirement.
Unfortunately, the plight of these elderly workers are oblivious
to multi-millionaire ministers like Mr Gan who continues to stress
that adjusting CPF rates would be “counterproductive” as it would
create more “rigidity”.
His views were echoed by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew who
dismissed Singapore’s worsening income gap between the rich and the
poor. Mr Lee claimed that it is more important to create jobs for
Singaporeans with labor policies which will encourage companies to
hire.
Though Singapore’s unemployment rates remain low, many workers,
especially those from the lower income group, are struggling to get
by with their meager wages in the face of rising costs of
living.
This leads to some “abandoning” their parents as they cannot
even earn enough to support their own families to which the
government has implemented a law to criminalize those who do not
support their parents financially, never mind if they have the
means to do so.
There is also a dearth of social welfare benefits for elderly
Singaporeans whose bulk of their savings are used up in paying the
mortage loans of over-priced public housing.
As such, many have no choice but to continue working beyond
their retirement ages. Some of them end up scavenging for
cardboards in the street or as toilet attendants in order to feed
themselves.
Singapore has a public assistance scheme which gives a $330
monthly allowance to the destitute, but one has to have no living
kin and medically certified to be permanently unfit to work in
order to qualify for the scheme.
While elderly workers are subjected to CPF cuts after the age of
50, Singapore ministers will get a pension on top of their monthly
salaries which remain unadjusted when they reach 55 years of
age.
Singapore workers are at the losing end at the mercy of big
businesses and the government because there are no independent
trade unions to represent their interests and they are robbed of
their political rights by a series of draconian laws put in place
by the ruling party.
The biggest trade union in Singapore – NTUC, is a
quasi-government organization headed by a minister. Unlike Hong
Kong where workers can gather and protest against their
maltreatment easily, a solo protest anywhere in Singapore (except
Hong Lim Park) is now considered illegal under a new law passed
this year.
With no opposition in parliament to check on the ruling party,
Singaporeans will have little choice but to look up to ministers
like Gan Kim Yong for “salvation”.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/10/25/gan-kim-yong-says-no-to-restoring-cpf-for-older-workers/