The video wasn't being very fair in the sense that while it gave
a good portrayal of the poors in Singapore, it exaggerates the
problem by hinting that it is widespread. Sure, I have seen a
number of people with similar predicment as those shown in the
pictures. But when I interacts with them, I found that a good
number of them are not really as poor as portray.
For example, I have once stood and counted the income of a
typical "begger" on average, if he/she is at Waterloo Street,
he/she can make at least $20 per hour. More often than not, I
calculate at least $30-40 per hour. That is more than my
income.
The cardbox collectors may also not be all that poor. I have one
relative and one neighbour in that business. My neighbour lives in
a five-room flat and my relative has two sons working in the middle
management of MNCs. They are doing it partially to kill them and
partially because its good money (so they say, but I'm not too sure
about the actualy income. I am however positive that at least my
relative can be well supported as her sons give her money regularly
and she gives my family tonic and presents regularly.)
The old cleaners, I'm too sure how representative they are about
the poor. The cleaning aunty in my office is a retiree who earns
about 500 plus a month by doing cleaning. She gets another 400 from
CPF. Then her children give her some money every month too. This
morning she showed me her new gold necklance that her daughter
brought for her as a present. Sure, this particular cleaning lady
may not represent all the other cleaning ladies, but the ratio
would not be as bad as having all the people in these video to
represent the entire Singapore.
Homeless people in Singapore actually have many options.
Generally if we (as in people who actually go to the street and
look out for these people) find them, we can quite easily find
cheap accommodation for them. The HDB will always have rental homes
at $40 per month and there are funds available to help them pay for
the rents. The point being that the state has the ability and
willingness to house these people. The difficulty is actually
reaching out to everyone who is homeless and that I have
encountered people who simply chooses to live on the street. BTW,
the relative I mentioned above, her husband loves to sleep at his
void deck like he is some homeless guy. And there is this auntie in
my neighbourhood who would sleep in the void deck on one particular
flat so she can wake up in time to feed the stray cats in the area
but would go home and take a nap after her morning coffee.
The point is, I'm not saying there are no poor people in
Singapore, but the percentage and predicment is not as bad as
suggested by the video. At least I have not heard of anyone
starving to death in Singapore. Have you? And what is the
percentage of the poor in our nation? What is the percentage of the
poor in the Scandavanian state and the US? When the video keeps
bringing up "Swiss living standards" against the backdrop of a
seemingly homeless guy, is it suggesting that there are no homeless
person or poor people in Switzerland?
The video is useful as a reminder to the general public that not
everyone is as blissful as we are, but more often than not, it is
hijacked by those that simply hates the government and ruling party
and utilised as a tool to further their political agenda. The very
fact that it these political opportunist (not the photographers)
are using these poors rather than be out on the street helping them
suggest to me that if by some freak accident they are voted into
power, the predicament of these poor may not be improved.
Oh, by the way, I do go out to the field and source out these
poor people. And trust me, the real poors are not the ones on the
street. The really bad cases are those hiding in their one room
flat with one disaster after another striking against them. And
unless people actively go and source them out, they will never get
to appear on youtube.
Yes, all beggars make $30-$40 dollars an hour, they love living
in void decks and park benches in the night. $40 an hour for a
month is like $7,714, that is even better than the after tax pay of
some lawyers, doctors and engineers. 
Who knows, maybe they have a $2 million
dollar bungalow, they choose to sleep on park benches and void
decks because they love the great outdoors.
You won't get to hear much negative news from SPH or Mediacorp.
Would you tell everybody in the world about your negative
points. SPH and Mediacorp are all propaganda machines by our
beloved PAP.
Yes, unless you actively search they out else they will never
appear on youtube, means if the media is not reporting them, they
don't exist at all. That's why LKY said there were no poor in
Singapore, they have eradicated poverty in Singapore.
I for one knows of these sleeping on the street poor, this old
man in his 70s or 80s ride a tricycle collecting cardboard boxes.
He tells me times are really bad these days, he gets paid only 10
cents for a kilogram of cardboard box. I usually bring my cardboard
box and drink cans to him for recycling. Who knows right,
maybe he is a beggar earning $8,000 a month, has a bungalow in
Goodman Road, he chose to sleep on the streets because he loves the
great outdoors.
