Press Release concerning changes to CPF
Policy
20 August 2003, Wednesday
To: The Chief Editor, All local Mass Media
The National Solidarity Party (NSP) regrets that the Prime
Minister's National Day Speech is largely a rehash of old ideas,
despite its fine presentation. Whereas NSP agree to the need for
fiscal measures to counter the current economic downtrend, we feel
that such measures should be balanced across the board.
We deeply regret that the PAP Government likes to slice the
livelihood of our workers at the first instance of economic
trouble. Instead of looking within itself to trim its own fats and
Government charges -- as a means to reduce business costs its
usual immediate response is to squeeze the earnings of the workers
through CPF cuts. This is much regretted. The Government could do
much to reduce overall business cost by lowering land cost and
rentals, fees and charges, transport and car fees, GST, petrol
taxes and utility charges. This is the time for the Government to
go for a budget deficit by reducing its revenue, as a means of
reducing overall business and living cost.
We believe that the people of Singapore expect more substantial
policy initiated from our World Class Ministers than merely taking
an easy way out by reducing of employers CPF contribution. As CPF
is only one of the components contributed to the total cost, CPF
cuts should only be taken as a last resort when all other
alternatives have been considered. How can the people be expected
to consistently bear the main brunt of these cost cutting measures
when Government leaders themselves continue to cling onto their
exceptionally huge remunerations, and GLCs are expected to make
profits from providing essential services like transport?
We believe that our current high cost of living stems from the
Governments failure to rein in escalating property prices in the
mid 90s and its over-ambitious dream of making every Singaporean
own property as an asset. This has led to declining equity values
among many Singaporean homeowners as property prices continue to
drop and inflexibility on wages and business cost. The Government
should come clean and publicly admit that this past initiative is a
genuine and honest policy mistake. This will set the stage for
Singaporeans to learn not to commit into the same mistake again in
the future when our economy has recovered.
The NSP like to appeal to the Government not to tamper with the
minimum withdrawal sum from the CPF at age 55. Stop trying to
micro-manage the lives of our Singaporeans and let them decide how
best to live and take care of themselves. It is mystifying when the
Government slowly removes the various safety nets around us, and
yet wants to control how Singaporeans can take care of their own
finances. This is in contrast to its declaration that the people
should be more self-reliant, more creative, and less dependent on
the Authorities. We, therefore reject the Governments proposal of
changing the CPF withdrawal limits.
The NSP like to take this opportunity to wish all Singaporeans a
Happy National Day. The dark clouds will pass because modern day
Singapore has two biggest resources that will see us through any
major difficulty, namely our talented people and capital
reserves.
Yours sincerely,
Yip Yew Weng
President
National Solidarity Party (NSP)