The recent announcement of the Singapore Sports Council raising
entry fees to all public swimming pools seem to be a "sick joke" in
the middle of wage and CPF cuts to the Singaporean
'heartlanders'.
It is surprising that public swimming pools gets the attention and
immediate reaction in Parliament, and required the Cabinet to
influence the decision to an increase of the entry fee of a Public
Swimming Pool.
Now, one can only wonder what does not come under the purview of
the Singapore Cabinet ?
If a small gesture - such as reversing the increase to the entry
fee of Public Swimming Pool - can reap so much supposed goodwill
and warm response from the average Singaporean, what IF the
Government should also decide to reduce the other "BIG TICKET" tax
items that affect the larger Singaporean Community - both private
and buisness ?
Will the Government take and bite this bait that can only result in
a win-win situation, or is the Government too stubborn to reverse
its wrong decision to tax Singapore out of its competitiveness
?
The Government has made such a "big deal" to the attention it has
given to the 'entry fee of Public Swimming Pools", and it is
surprising to learn that there is an upcoming slew of more price
increases that are now put on hold !
Better to make U-turn than 'try to save
face'
Embarrassing climb-down, says Soo Sen, but forging ahead despite
feedback would have been worse
By Rebecca Lee
YES, it was an embarrassing about-turn, Minister of State
(Education and Community Development & Sports) Chan Soo Sen
acknowledged yesterday, of the Government reversing its decision to
raise fees at public sports facilities.
But it would have been worse to go ahead in the face of such strong
and valid opposition, just for the sake of saving face, he
added.
The reason for the Government's sudden change of heart - in just
two days - was the feedback it had received, Mr Chan told The
Straits Times.
'It is a bit embarrassing, yes, but it will be more embarrassing if
we just go ahead regardless of the feedback,' he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday also acknowledged
that the Government had not handled the matter 'quite as slickly as
we should have'.
'But I think the minister has put things right,' he told reporters
at the launch of this year's National Healthy Lifestyle
Campaign.
He said the Government could not afford to put off raising big
ticket items such as the GST, but would do its best to be generous and delay raising
charges on smaller items.
On Thursday, Minister for Community Development and Sports Yaacob
Ibrahim announced that the hikes, scheduled for next month and next
July, were not going ahead.
Two days earlier, Mr Chan had defended the hikes in Parliament
after MPs Cynthia Phua (Aljunied GRC) and Ong Ah Heng (Nee Soon
Central) protested against the rises, which would have made
swimming at a public pool cost twice as much from next July.
Yesterday, Mr Chan said that the turnaround was due to the valid
points raised by the two MPs, who had argued that it was ill-timed
and went against what Mr Lee had earlier said, that the
newly-formed Cut Waste Panel could demand, among other things, that
unnecessary fees and charges be reviewed.
Mr Chan also said he could not delay the announcement 'because my
duty on that day was to announce the decision'. And he could not
say the ministry would reconsider without first consulting the
minister.
But the two MPs' feedback struck a chord.
In a written reply to The Straits Times queries, the MCDS yesterday
said that it has set up an Economy Drive Committee, chaired by SSC
chief executive officer Colonel (Ret) Kwan Yue Yeong, to look into
ways to cut costs by 'reviewing service delivery and service
standards'.
SSC has already taken steps to cut costs at its facilities by
employing part-timers, and using coin-operated lockers to reduce
manpower costs.
'But the saving may not be enough. We will have to re-think how we
can better leverage on existing resources,' MCDS said.
Yesterday, the president of the Singapore Hockey Federation, Mr M.
Lukshumayeh, welcomed the move.
'With the tense economic situation, people need an outlet and I
think sports is an ideal outlet.
'The increase would have denied a lot of people, especially
families, from participating in sporting events,' he said.
In his remarks to reporters, Mr Lee also said he sensed that
following his dialogue with business and unions leaders on
Thursday, people were accepting the CPF changes very calmly and
understood what the Government was doing.
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