I was watching this video in which Chee Soon Juan completely demolished and embarrassed Michael Palmer for bringing up this concept of "targeted assistance". If help is targeted based on need, why are millionaire ministers getting subsidies when they are sick and pensions when they retire....while the middle class have much of their subsidies eliminated.
If you go through my blog, there are numerous instances where needy Singaporeans are denied help simply due to numerous rules put in place to prevent them from getting help. One caller to 93.8 called to say he was "near homeless" and now begging relatives one by one because he was unable to get a rental flat - he had very low income of $1000+ and cannot afford to buy a flat. So why was he denied help? HDB had this rule that a person cannot apply for rental flats within 30 months of the sale of his flat[Link]. This caller sold his flat because he was in financial difficulties and he still had financial difficulties after he sold his flat but couldn't get a rental flat simply because he couldn't afford to hang on to his flat[Link] These rules were further tightened when the waiting time for rental flats grew to 4 years[Link]. He went to see his MP but his appeal was unsuccessful.
We often hear, Minister Khaw say we are fully covered for medical care because of the 3Ms (Medisave, Medishield, Medifund). If that is so, why do some Singaporeans have to seek treatment in Malaysia? Why do people have to sell their homes to pay for medical treatment[family sells home and owed bank $400k for daughter's cancer treatment] if they have access to Medifund ? How come Olympic hero, Tan Howe Liang, who is 77 years old could not get Medifund fo his wife's treatment and end up with medical debts of $100,000[Link]? Medifund eligibility criteria has never been spelt out - it is believed to be based on housing or income - either one can be used to reject applicants[Leong Sze Hian has been asking for the criteria and has been given the run around]. If someone like Tan Howe Liang or a father that has to go into debt to the tune of $400K cannot get it, you can imagine how hard it is to get help.
Minister yesterday announced that PA allowance would be increased by $30 a month, from $260 to $290, single constituents told me that they needed to skip one meal a day to live on the $260 per month. And now, MCYS is going to give them $1 more a day. But, Sir, $1 a day will not be able to buy them one meal a day in any hawker centre.” - MP Lily Neo in Parliament
There are numerous issues with Workfare[Link] even for those who believe it is superior to minimum wages (which I'm sure it is not), the PAP ruins its own solution with rules and barriers.
At a time when poverty is actually rising and spreading as the income gap and cost of living increases mean that more Singaporeans suffer unnecessarily and unjustly each year because as a nation we have more than sufficiently resources to help those really in need. We need a govt that is honest and sincere in distributing help not one that hides behind euphemisms and rules. What we have today is a govt that will debate endlessly over whether $1 per day increase for Public Assistance for the most needy people in our society is too much but wants to compensate its ministers and top civil servants millions a year and handout 8 month bonuses to people who are suppose to serve the public. This is a govt that has lost is bearings...it has lost is values, its conscience and its sense of reality....and we better put all these back in govt and we have to be serious about it before its too late.