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PAP's
Broken Promises
Shared
prosperity a cornerstone 12
Jan 06
During
elections:
"Shared prosperity will remain a
cornerstone of our New Singapore."
- PM Goh Chok Tong,
Straits Times, Oct 20, 2001
After
elections:
"A Department of Statistics (DOS)
report last year showed income inequality has crept up over the
years. Overall, average monthly incomes have risen: from $3,076
in 1990 to $4,943 in 2000. But incomes at the top rose, while
incomes at the bottom declined. In 2000, incomes for the top 10
per cent of resident households grew 8.8 per cent, while incomes
for the bottom 10 per cent of wage-earning households shrank 13.6
per cent. This shrinkage would have been even greater - 54.1 per
cent - if households with no wage earners had been included. The
Gini coefficient - which measures income disparity in a society -
hovered around 0.44 in the 1990s, but expanded to 0.481 in 2000,
showing a rising income gap."
- Chua Mui Hoong,
political columnist, Straits Times, Aug 4, 2003
"If
we want to have successful entrepreneurs, Singaporeans have to
accept a greater income disparity between the successful and the
not so successful."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, Ho Rih Hwa
public lecture, Feb 5, 2002
Choose PAP and
Singapore still weaker 11
Dec 05
During
elections:
"Choose wrongly, and Singapore will be
weaker. People will start writing new reports about us, about
how, after all, we are just a flash in the pan."
- DPM
Lee Hsien Loong, Straits Times, Oct 22, 2001
After
elections:
"Singapore is Asia's weakest
economy: Barclays." - AFP, Jun 18, 2002
"Singapore
among Asia's laggards as recession deepens." - Bloomberg,
Jan 2 ,2002
"Glory of Singapore fades into the past."
- Age, Melbourne, Jan 24 ,2002
"Singapore is
trying to halt slippage." - New York Times, Apr 30,
2002
"In Singapore: Government squanders savings."
- New Zealand Herald, May 18, 2002
"Economic
doubts dog Singapore." - Financial Times, Aug 27,
2002
"Singapore faces jobless surge." - BBC,
Sept 13, 2002
"Singapore concedes economy weakening,
delays pension repairs." - AFP, Nov 17, 2002
"Whither
Singapore Inc?" - Economist, Nov 28, 2002
"Singapore
economy to remain sluggish" - Financial Times, Jan 3,
2003
"Singapore economy stagnates, recession risks
loom." - Reuters, Apr 10, 2003
"Bad debts up
as Singapore falters." - Reuters, Jul 31, 2003
First
we lead, then we follow 8 Nov
05
During
elections:
"You look at all the countries around
us...Currencies collapsed, property prices ces collapsed,
unemployment, economies slowing down, riots, clashes between
people. Singapore did not go through that mangle. Why? Because in
Singapore, we had a competent government in charge, anticipating
events."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew on the 1997 Asian Financial
Crisis, Straits Times, Nov 1 2003
After
elections:
"In a global economy, we are not
trendsetters. We follow what others do."
- Minister
and labour chief Lim Boon Heng, Straits Times, Jul 2003
"Data
released by the Ministry of Manpower last week was by far the
bleakest to date. Eight straight quarters of job losses and a
staggering 24,800 jobs wiped out over the April to June period -
more in a single quarter than in all of 1998, the peak of Asia's
infamous financial crisis."
- The Edge, Aug 4,
2003
"Singaporeans are also the most pessimistic
about their future income. In the Asia-Pacific region, only the
Japanese are less confident than Singaporeans about the outlook
for regular income. These are among the findings of MasterCard
International's latest biannual survey of consumer confidence in
13 markets around the region."
- The Edge, Aug 4,
2003
Unite behind
PAP for a secure future and a better life? Yeah right...
17
Oct 05
During
elections:
"A
people united - Secure Future, Better Life."
- PAP
election manifesto
"Vote for my PAP team. a
people united behind a good government is your best guarantee of
a secure future and a better life."
- PM Goh Chok
Tong, Straits Times, Oct 28, 2001
After
elections:
"Bankruptcy cases at 17 year
high."
- Straits Times, Jan 8, 2003
"Family
violence on the rise, and counselors attribute it to the stress
of job losses due to the economic downturn."
- Straits
Times, Jan 28, 2002
"During the Asian Financial
Crisis, 27,000 jobs were lost. That year the number of marital
splits jumped by 16 per cent to 5,651. Last year a record number
of 5,825 marriages ended in divorces and annulments - up sharply
from 2,111 cases in 1982."
- Straits Times, Jun 8,
2003
"Hit by slowdown, young working adults are
vulnerable to suicidal thoughts. More are calling SOS hotline for
help...there were 361 suicides last year, nearly 17% more than
1999."
- Straits Times, June 15, 2003
Goh shows more
understanding our concerns 27
Sep 05
During
elections:
"Will
you keep your job? Can your families cope with school expenses,
medical bills, rent and utilities charges? I understand your
worries."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Oct 28,
2001 (A week earlier, Goh had said he understood our
“concerns.” See posting on 19 Jul 2005 below.
Concerns and worries come thick and fast before elections to the
PAP; what happens after elections is another matter.)
After
elections:
"A
growing number of Singapore children are not being sent to school
because their cash-strapped parents claim they cannot afford to
pay for education. Ministry figures show 1921 children did not
register for Primary 1 classes in 1999, up 244 on 1997 figures.
"
- Reuters, Mar 3, 2002
"More parents
seeking help to pay school fees."
- Straits Times Jun
17, 2002
"About 10,000 students received
financial help from the Ministry of Education in the first six
months of this year, almost three times that for the whole of
1999. The Starits Times School Pocket Money Fund, which gives
students $30 or $50 a month, is also helping 2,000 more students
this year, nearly 40 per cent more than last year's 5,500."
-
Straits Times, Aug 11, 2003
"Thousands
can't pay utility bills, many face power cut."
- Straits
Times, Apr 12, 2003
"Desperation is forcing some
people to ask for personal loans on the internet ... they are
asking strangers for anything between $500 and $30,000."
-
Straits Times, Apr 14, 2002
Jobs,
Jobs, Jobs? 23
Aug 05
During
elections:
"SDP's
plan 'causes higher unemployment.'"
- George Yeo in
Straits Times, Oct 29, 2001
"Top task for PM - to
save and create jobs. There is one thing on Prime Minister Goh
Chok Tong's mind these days : jobs, jobs, jobs."
-
Straits Times, Oct 26, 2001
After
elections:
"Numbers
for the first three months indicate that unemployment - now at a
15 year high - will get worse before it improves."
-
Straits Times, May 1 2002
"Gone forever:
42,000 jobs in Singapore. Why: high costs here; the recession;
business restructuring."
- Straits Times, June 17
2002
"The proportion of Singaporeans who are
unemployed for at least 6 months is the worst in 10 years."
-
Straits Times, Sept 15 2002
"Fewer jobs as
gloom hits economy. 84,300 people could not find jobs last
month."
- Straits Times, Nov 1 2002
"By
year end, unemployment should rise to 5.5 per cent ... a recent
MOM survey says that three in 10 of the jobless are sole
breadwinners which means more than 30,000 families could be
living off retrenchment benefits, savings and any odd jobs they
can snag."
- Straits Times, Nov 23, 2002
Compassion
only during elections 10
Aug 05
During
elections:
"Build
compassionate meritocracy : PM"
- Straits Times, Oct 27
2001
After
elections:
"CDCs
are not welfare agencies: PM"
- Straits Times, Jan 6,
2002
"If these patients want to treat hospitals like
a hotel, then they'll have to be charged hotel rates."
-
Minister Lim Hng Kiang, Straits Times, March 1,2002, on
cutting off subsidies for hospital overstayers who "are
likely to be older than 60, with no income, or are from families
with incomes below $1000."
"I regret making
the decision because, in the end, the baby continued to be in
intensive care, and KKH now runs a bill of more than $300,000."
-
Lim Hng Kiang on how he regretted intervening to admit a
premature baby into KKH, Straits Times, May 21, 2002
"Family
bathes in public toilet because the water supply has been reduced
to a trickle and the electricity disconnected. 'I have no money
even to buy candles.'"
- Retrenched worker Mdm
Dilaram, Straits Times, Apr 12, 2003
"Power
supply is not a welfare organisation."
- DPM Lee
Hsien Loong, Straits Times, Mar 13, 2003
"More
than 3000 Singaporeans have applied for a government assistance
scheme in the first two weeks of the year ...but no one has
qualified."
- Straits Times, Jan 26, 2003
Goh
understands our concerns 19
Jul 05
During
elections:
"I know
you are worried about your job and your family's future. I
understand your concerns.”
- PM Goh Chok Tong,
Straits Times, Oct 20, 2001
After
Elections:
“Layoffs not all bad. If there are no
retrenchments at all, then I worry for Singapore.”
- PM
Goh Chok Tong, Mar 22, 2003
PAP not Pay
and Pay? 3
Jul 05
During
elections:
"What it
means is that government will have to tax and tax and you will
have to pay and pay. If you don't want a Pay and Pay government,
better don't vote for the opposition. Vote for the PAP."
-
DPM Lee Hsien Loong rebutting opposition's economic proposals,
Straits Times, Oct 29 2001
After
elections:
"This
is the medicine, take it."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong on
the GST hike, CNA, May 15, 2002
Goh
wanted alternatives? 26
Jun 05
During
elections:
“I would
want to form an alternative policies group in Parliament,
comprising 20 PAP MPs. These 20 PAP MPs will be free to vote in
accordance with what they think of a particular policy. In other
words, the whip for them will be lifted. This is not playing
politics, this is something which I think is worthwhile doing."
-
PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Nov 3, 2001
After
elections:
"If you
sing Jailhouse Rock with your electric guitar when others are
playing Beethoven, you are out of order. The whip must be used on
you."
- PM Goh Chok Tong in report "Not in
people's interest to lift whip", Straits Times, Apr 6, 2002
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