Growing underclass in 'Lion City'
(Al Jazeera )
05 June 2007 by Hamish MacDonald
Singapore's government has now acknowledged there is a problem and
in this year's budget it introduced what it calls "bold" new
welfare payments.
Long regarded as an economic miracle, Singapore faces a growing gap
between rich and poor.
The city-state of Singapore is Asia's second-richest country after
Japan - a high-tech global hub for banking, transport and
business.
Modern Singapore has never really had a problem with poverty, but
globalisation and an ageing population are changing that.
A growing number of Singaporeans are now struggling to make ends
meet - forcing radical changes to social and fiscal policy in a
country where welfare remains a dirty word.
Tan Ching Hoo is 62 years old. He used to work as a waiter, but now
he collects cardboard for a living.
For every kilogram, he earns the equivalent of 65 cents. "Whether I
like or not, I have no choice," he says. "I have to earn
money."
His son pays the rent of $50 a month for a one room
apartment.
'Dirty word'
Tan Ching Hoo lives in a crowded single room apartment
But Tan is not alone. Eight per cent of Singapore's population is
said to live in poverty and increasing numbers are joining that new
class of urban poor.
Sinapan Samydorai of the Think Centre, an independent political
research group, says for years Singapore was built around a concept
of affluence, and was simply not prepared for the idea of
poverty.
"Welfare was a dirty word in Singapore, even now. They don't
encourage welfare."
Globalisation created Singapore's economic miracle, reinforcing the
self-styled image of the 'lion city'.
Singapore's wealth gap
GDP $28,077 per person in 2006
Economy forecast to grow 7 per cent in 2007
Between 2000 and 2005:
- Monthly income of Singapore's poorest workers fell 4.3 per cent
to $774 a month.
- Monthly income of Singapore's richest workers grew 2.8 per cent
to nearly 11,000 dollars a month
Source: UN, Singapore government
But it also brought cheaper migrant labour, and that has made it
hard for an ageing population to compete.
While most countries have their disadvantaged, what makes Singapore
different is that a country now known as one of the most affluent
in Asia is developing what is being described as an
underclass.
Singapore's government has now acknowledged there is a problem and
in this year's budget it introduced what it calls "bold" new
welfare payments.
Sylvia Lim, a member of parliament for the opposition Workers
Party, says this represents something of a sea change in
Singapore's policy towards welfare.
"This is quite radical for Singapore," she says.
"We have always lived under this system where you have to earn
every cent that you get basically and now the government recognises
that there are some people who just cant earn enough now."
'Marginalised'
An ageing population is adding to the numbers living in poverty
Singapore's emerging underclass may be relatively small now, but
its growth could threaten the political dynamic in what is
effectively a one-party state.
Chua Hak Bin, a Singapore-based economist with Citigroup, says this
is the first time the government has acknowledged the issue.
"There will be some social pressures, there will be a group that
will be marginalised," he says.
"I guess what is important though is that it is being recognised
and the government is trying to do something to help those
people."
Back at his small one room flat Mr Tan has yet to sign up for any
of the governments new assistance programs.
The paperwork he says is just too complicated.
Even in pragmatic Singapore old habits die hard, and welfare, both
giving and receiving, might take some getting used to.
