A Singaporean Grunt

I realised that I have not been bitching about life recently, not because things are turning out well (far and moving away from it actually), but because there are simply too much things to say. (and i admit that it was also because I was tied up with work for the past few months)

Nevertheless, since I got some time on hand, here are some of the things that I want to say:

1) Population white paper and protest
There is the population white paper issue which the govt projects (more like aiming I guess) that Singapore population to hit 6.9 million in 2030. With the crowded MRTs, the irregular buses, the lack of taxis on weekends in town and everywhere on raining days, the springing up of HBD or flats everywhere, the high cost of cars, it is little wonder why Singaporean take to the protest in Hong Lim Park on 16th Feb 2013.

Mind you, this protest take place shortly after the Punggol East By election where the PAP lost another seat in Parliament. What better way to hear the political decision of people through mass events like an election or a protest? Isnt the message clear enough?

In my opinion, I think that the protest and the results of the Punggol East By Election is not solely about the population increase. As we know, disaster dont start instantaneously but is usually fueled by a few situation, events, decisions put together.

Thinking back, there are some issues which may have contributed / built up the fury of pure, local born Singaporean

(a) Foreigners are perceived to be snatching the jobs of Singaporean. Fillipino, PRC Chinese, India's Indian are taking up the jobs that Singaporean don't want AND the jobs that Singaporean wants

(b) To make matter worse, a Singaporean male loses out to a same age foreign male counterpart. See after 18 years old, after graduation from Poly, the one with the pink IC will need to report to a place called Pulau Tekong at some point of time or another. The foreigner goes to University and enter into working life. The poor pink IC holder pledge his loyalty to his country for 2 years, then go to University and enter working life. Guess what? The foreigner, who was classmate to the pink IC holder, who had a headstart of 2 years, now becomes the manager of the pink IC holder.

Citizens usually enjoy benefits over foreigners in their own country and Singapore must be the first country in the world where citizens are worse off than foreigners in their own country.
I with most people have gone through National Service and we think that it is a part of life not to be missed. We should not take NS away (it can't be taken away) but I am sure we can do something to balance out this inequality

(c) Stunts by foreigners in Singapore land - E.g. Ma Chi the speeding Ferrari driver who killed himself and the innocent taxi driver and the taxi passenger, the china bus driver who took the wrong route and trap people in this bus for 2 hours, and the one who knocked an old lady down.

All these incidents are slowly but surely setting the scene for disaster and if the government dont stop it, its hard to imagine what's going to happen.



2) High COE Price (and now MAS tightening of loans)

Prices of COE as you would have known got up to record high levels and people are telling government to halt / slow down the increase before everyone, except for the very rich, is able to own a car in Singapore. The government respond by tightening car loans, with MAS restricting car buyer to only be able to loan for 5 years and you will be required to pay a downpayment of 40-50%.

The COE now is around 80 - 90K and normal (NOT LUXURY) brand new Toyota Vios cost about S$140k. If prices remains, for the new buyer will have to fork out S$70k as downpayment. S$70K. For a normal working class person earning $3k per month, after CPF deduction, the take home pay is S$2400 and even this person doesn't eat drink spend AT ALL, it will take this person around 2.5 YEARS to save up this sum of money, just for the downpayment. Realistically, perhaps, it is possible to save $1000 per month which makes it slightly less than 6 years for a person to own a car...emm sorry not own (as there is still installments for the next 5 years.)

The good news of course is that COE is likely to fall as the new ruling is going to deter a lot of car buyers from buying a car, hence less bids for COE, hence COE which is determined by market forces. is likely to drop. However, even to have a downpayment of $30K, to an average Singaporean isn't easy, especially when the cost of living is so high in Singapore.

And who can deny that it is not linked to the open doors policy of Singapore that because there are too many people, foreigner included, the COE prices are driven high to record levels.