Are you not aware of the 'facts' of high Costs of Living in
Singapore - which the Ruling Party a.k.a the Government continue to
deny, and with the Statistics Department churning out figures to
support their position ?
It is surprising that the Statistics Department can churn out
Consumer Price Index and Inflationary costs at such negligible
increments, when costs have increase by leaps and bounds - starting
from 20% hike in petrol costs, which has also caused public
transportation to increase fares by nearly similar amounts.
Education and hospital fees are slated to be increased, at the same
time as a review is being conducted to increase electricity and
water charges. HDB houses have seen price increases of over 300%
since the mid-1970s for similar size units.
When nipah flu, bird flu, and SARS broke out, all kinds of imports
of raw primary products from our traditional sources of supply
(Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China) were cut off, and new
sources were made from further away (Australia, New Zealand).
Surely, Cost of Living have risen ?
Are you not aware that while the COST of Living has gone up, our
STANDARD of Living has slowly deteriorated ?
The Singapore Dollar had shrunk from an all time high against the
US Dollar at USD1.00 to SGD1.42 during the 1980s through early
1990s.
With the 1997 crash, the Singapore Dollar fell to as low as USD1.00
to SGD1.84; and up till this day, the Singapore Currency hovers
around USD1.00 to SGD1.67.
The average salary of Singapore workers have also been drastically
reduced, with pay cuts of between 10% to 30% during the 2001 and
2002 crisis, and CPF reduction by as much as 10%.
Are you unaware of the wide disparity in the salary paid to the
Elite Rulers and the AVERAGE Middle Income Class ?
Are you unaware that while retrenchments is continue, Pay cuts and
CPF cuts are not restored; and yet the Ruling Party a.k.a the
Government has already restored the 10% pay cut from the Salary of
the Elite and that of the Civil Service ?
Are you unaware that retrenched and unemployed workers remain high
at 4.5%, and has fluctuated around this level since the second
economic crisis in 2001 - with more retrenchment exercise to be
effected ?
While unemployment remains at a high level, and the Salary and CPF
cuts have not been fully restored to the Singapore work force, the
brilliant Ruling Party a.k.a the Government has decided to give a
hefty 3 months bonus to themselves and their loyal Civil
Servants.
These are the raw facts that one can read and gather from the daily
papers, while such data will never be presented in such stark and
threatening manner that will put the embarrassing spotlight on the
Ruling Party a.k.a the Government.
What more 'facts and figures' do you need ?
