Has the 'Virtual World' of a Swiss Standard of Living crashed,
and are Singaporeans being brought back into the Reality World
?
Was it realistic to dream of and to transplant the expectations of
a Swiss Standard of Living onto Singapore ?
Is it enough to simply achieve the Swiss Standard of Living by
having high wages, so as to afford the best things available in
life to be brought into Singapore, and having homes (HDB or
Private) that has a face value of a Million Dollars, and to
afford the best material living as found in the First World ?
When the Swiss set out to achieve a high standard of living, with
accompanying high quality to their Life, which country did they try
to emulate ?
Did the Swiss declare to emulate or use the American Standard of
Living, or perhaps the French Standard of Living, as a goal for
themselves ?
Certainly not, as they went about in their own quiet ways to have a
high standard of living according to their own familiar Swiss
standards, with the accompanying tangible productive output that
allow them to attain and sustain the Standard and Quality of Life
that the Swiss aspire for themselves.
In attaining the Standard of Living that the Swiss aspire for
themselves, they would have ensured that the capacity to sustain
the standard and quality of life is attainable by every Swiss
Citizens, and that no one is left behind - and UNABLE to afford the
Cost of Living that they have created for themselves at a pace
tolerable to themselves.
Why would Singapore want to transplant the Swiss Standard of Living
onto an Asian society such as the one in Singapore, which consist
of a cosmopolitan society dominated largely by four predominant
Asian societies Chinese, Malays, Indians, and Eurasians - and
more familiar with the Asian Standards and Asian Cost of Living
?
Will it not be better for Singapore to evolve its own ASIAN High
Standard of Living, at an ASIAN cost of living and for the Quality
of Life that is attainable and sustainable by every single person
who call himself / herself a Singaporean ?
Such an ASIAN High Standard of Living will be above the familiar
poor standard found in the third world parts of Asia, and
BENCHMARKED against the best in Asia, Europe and the Americas,
without the need of imposing a Swiss Standard onto a typical Asian
society.
It seems ludicrous to believe that a Swiss Standard of Living, with
Swiss Cost of Living to boot, can be sustainable in Singapore, when
Singapore does not have the same tangible industrial, technological
and creative output as the Swiss.
The Swiss has its famous designer watch industry, as well as its
famed high precision industries that have provided world class
products that are much sought after, resulting in a high level of
productivity for each Swiss that allow them to sustain the high
wage levels to maintain a high quality of life, and a high standard
of living.
The opposite seems to be true in the Singapore experience, in which
wages are artificially forced up by the Government, with the
objective of driving labor intensive and low tech industries out of
Singapore, and attracting workers in Singapore to upgrade their
skills for new high tech industries that will be drawn into
Singapore on favorable legislated terms specially drafted to
attract such foreign industries into Singapore.
However, the large increases made to Singapore wage level over the
last twenty years are artificially imposed, based on non-tangible
productive outputs that cannot be sustained over time. Most of the
outputs are the products of MNCs that will not be permanently based
in Singapore, once the favorable terms for being in Singapore
expire.
With the paring down of Civil Servants
pay, starting from those who will join the Civil Service, is this
the beginning of an effort by the Ruling Party to tone down the
ambitious and unrealistic goals of having a Swiss Standard of
Living to be imposed onto the HDB Heartlanders ?
(News on Friday - see site below)
Will we begin to see a slow spiral of related Swiss Cost of
Living similarly lowered at a similar speed as well ?
Now that the wage pressures have been lifted off, surely we should
see some nett difference in the charges levied by the many
Singapore GLCs that provide essential services to Singaporeans
?
It is about time for Singaporeans to truly live like the Swiss
nationals, with a home that is affordable and also allowing a
substantial portion of the monthly wage to be in REAL SAVINGS not
with the CPF but in Private Bank Accounts - Fixed or Savings or
Investment Accounts.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/latest/story/0,4390,218735-1068242340,00.html?
Govt to cut
civil servants' starting pay
SINGAPORE -- The Government said on Friday it will cut the starting
pay of new civil servants by up to 20 per cent from January despite
the economy showing signs of recovery.
The changes announced on Monday by the Public Service Division
(PSD) will have the greatest impact on the 2,500 fresh graduates
who are likely to join the Civil Service next year.
The PSD also said in its statement that civil servants will receive
an annual variable bonus of half a month's salary this year, the
lowest in 15 years.
Since the Government started paying this bonus in 1988, it has
always paid a minimum of three-quarters of a month's salary.
The cuts are aimed at aligning government salaries with the pay of
workers in the private sector.
Further salary cuts will be carried out in specific cases which
exceed market benchmarks and a review will be carried out to keep
wages at a par with the private sector.
The size of the salary cuts will vary depending, among others, on
how much the starting pay would exceed the private sector
benchmark.
The cuts in starting salaries and bonus payments will
reduce the Government's wage bill by $63 million (US$36 million) a
year.
Although the Singapore economy is showing signs of a rebound, the
recovery 'is still fledgling and not yet broad-based,' the
statement said. -- AFP