Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has called on Singaporeans to do
their best to work through the economic downturn together, as a
society and country.
He was speaking at a community event at Jalan Kayu on Sunday, where
he launched a S$45,000 programme to help needy families.
Speaking at the annual family day celebrations at Jalan Kayu, Mr
Lee said: "Bonuses are down, unemployment has gone up, not as much
as we feared, but it is higher than it would be. And we can see the
effects as MPs, because in our Meet-the-People sessions, the
numbers have gone up."
And Mr Lee said the government will help those looking for jobs and
assistance.
He said: "The government has done what it needs to do through the
GST offsets, the Resilience Package and the many schemes which
Singapore has in the Budget and off the Budget, in order to help
people in the ways which would help them to help themselves - keep
their jobs, find new jobs and help their families."
However, the Prime Minister stressed that help must be given at
different levels.
Tackling the economic crisis in Singapore also involves the "many
helping hands" approach. And one programme which the Jalan Kayu
division has launched is called Heartstrings. It will benefit a
hundred needy families in the division.
Wee Siew Kim, MP, Ang Mo Kio GRC, said: "By using the Heartstrings
approach, the local grassroots organisations, which is the RC, can
reach out to them directly with a package of household necessities.
We intend to make it an on-going project, it is not meant to be
mandate just for these trying economic times.
"And we intend to start it small with a package of S$40-50 a month
on the basis that we can sustain it. We also (that) intend every
two months, the RC works with the other entities in the
constituency, whether it is the merchants association, mosque or
temple, and together they can reach out to the needy households in
our midst, and the households also see that these entities are
working together as part of a community."
The Heartstrings scheme is targeted at senior citizens and needy
families earning less than S$450 per month. - CNA/ms
he is saying that basically there would not be a year end
recovery.
