many of the current 'help to the poor' schemes are stop gap
measures or just some shut yr mouth goodwill fees. Say, the 50
bucks subsidy for the poor in response to the transport fare
hike..is that a lot of money? Rich folks would have a car or many
cars and $50 won't even fill a full tank. it is usually the poor
who will be staying at some ulu estates and because of the journey,
will burn up their fare cards much faster. wonder how the geniuses
conjure these schemes and everything gets the go-ahead...perhaps it
is such a paltry sum that won't even entice the poor to take up the
offer. the argument is that we would like to prevent a 'crutch
mentality' but this is such an over-used phrase for not thinking
about longer term solutions and the fact is, effective help is not
getting out to those that need them now. training and education can
work for some but not all as there are just a myriad of
circumstances facing each and every individual who may be in need.
the strange thing that could happen is that the younger generations
may be the ones more likely to succumb to welfarism than the
face-saving older generations. with help being dislocated at
present, whether these measures will work in the near future
towards/against this noble principle is still hard to tell. for
now, it is not uncommon to see the poor having difficulties to even
raise $50 to top up their cpf just to get some handout. and this is
the ground-zero. and, while we get freebies on/off, without fail
those monies will faithfully return to paying back some form of
taxes or utilities besides the bread and water on the table. yes,
the faceless corporates are creeping up and making more feel
unbearable. and with globalization initiatives hailed as strategic
visions, have one's life and values improved? are we charging
forward blindly or at an over-competitive pace that will just bring
more problems? just hope we don't underestimate the building
tensions between the rich-poor divide as for a long time, these
were major catalysts for revolutions, wars and social problems of
all sorts. things are going wrong when you read the papers about
kids talking about being in top prestigious schools vis a vis
neighbourhood schools, different classes of the very rich and poor,
gold taps/peanuts and racial discrimination. if we imagine all
these as connective factors held together in a larger framework,
any dissatisfaction with the economic-centric model would just
break one of the links and unleash destructive manifestations. the
evil eye is something real and the enemy from 'within' will be the
most difficult to manage.
