Right or Wrong - you will see what you wish to see, and
like the old proverbial saying goes : "A thirsty horse can
be led to the water, but no one can force it to drink".
If cancer is not something of concern to you, it is certainly to
MM LKY - who had commented that LHL is now hung up on meditation to
relieve himself of stress - as mentioned in the references in my
previous post.
An indication of how serious that the cancer issue is being
taken, one need only to look at the set-up of the PM's
office during LKY and GCT term as PM.
Do you know that when LKY was in the PM chair, he had
only one Minister-without-Portfolio in his Cabinet - {with Ong Teng
Cheong the NTUC Sec-Gen being made a Minister without Portfolio in
the PM's Office}; and when GCT was the PM, he had two
Ministers-without-Portfolio in the PM's office - {then Lee
Yock Suan and Lim Boon Heng} ?
In LHL's cabinet, he has three Ministers in his PM's
Office - S. Jayakumar as a DPM and holding a new office
of Co-ordinating Minister for National Security, Lim Boon Heng and
Lim Swee Say are both Ministers-without-Portfolio.
This is quite obvious that LHL's workload is now split amongst
three other person to assist him, and leaving him with a less
stressful workload - and sufficient time for his meditation
- to prolong his own state of health with no chance for
the cancer to return.
With the workload under control, all that is left now is to
prevent external factors that can put pressure on LHL, and these
are the political challenges that can arise outside of the Ruling
Party.
The most serious contender that will pose a challenge that can
embarrass LHL and the Ruling Party is a vocal maverick such as CSJ
and his SDP - if they are allowed to rebuild themselves.
If you can see that the government do not pay out any cash or
cheques - it is obvious that this Government do not practise Social
Welfarism.
Do not mix your views between support from the Charities to the
under-privilege with Social Welfare - as they are two different
matters.
With regards to your views on 'Social Welfare' in
the Singapore Style that you have stated - you must be
coming out of some dream land to believe that "it is based more
on CPF, where the government and the boss will contribute money
towards your retirement...."
Concerning your statement that the government contribute to
the CPF - I will ask you how this government contribution to
the individual CPF account has helped in any significant ways
for the retirement of Singaporeans ?
Do you seriously believe that the miserly few hundred
dollars paid out PER ANNUM as Economic Progress Payout - or
some other fancy term can be considered as sufficient from this
Government, when almost immediately this Government will raise the
service charges for some other Government services ?
On the part concerning the CPF contribution made by the
Employers - Singaporeans have the wrong view that the
Employers' CPF contribution is NOT part of the Workers'
Wage.
CPF is a monthly contribution by every Worker at
a determined percentage to be deducted from the monthly
wage, and with another part being contributed by the
Employer directly to the CPF. These contributions from the Worker
and the Employer form the bulk of the CPF that is available to
Singaporeans who contribute for their own retirement.
This is NOT Social Welfare.
For your understanding - you could simply google for the
definition of the term "Social Welfare" - and the main
explanation will state that the Government, or some
Public or Private entities - is providing sufficient funds to
help the under-privilege in a Society; or for the
benefit of the society during contingency or extraneious
circumstances.
Surely, you will not consider yourself as being an
under-privilege person in Singapore when you can contribute to your
own CPF Retirement Fund ?
During the extraneous circumstances when Singaporeans were faced
with the unexpected economic downturns of 1987, 1997 and 2002 -
were Singaporeans allowed to draw on the CPF funds to meet such
extraneous contingencies ?
The CPF remains locked, and with no cash handouts being given to
support the majority of Singaporeans - many Singaporeans living in
the rented HDB One-Room units defaulted on their utility bills,
and had their Electrical and Water Supply cut.
Social Welfare in Singapore remains a dirty word and do not
exist in the vocabulary of the Ruling Political Party, and they
were thrown out from the World Socialist Democrat Movement as early
as in the mid-1970s.
This Singapore Government has adopted Stalinist type Communism
for political control on Singapore civil society, and Capitalism to
manage the socio-economic environment.
‘Goh Chok
Tong’s Cabinet’
‘Lee
Hsien Loong’s Cabinet’
no, it is not social welfare. it is the people work for
themselves, and employers matching what the workers contributed. it
is more retirement fund. social welfare is taken from taxes, here
the people get back what they earn, til they retire.
sorry, didn't really read your post after seeing the cancer bit,
so i probably miss alot of points.
