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The Economy
Local as well as international experts are saying that
Singapore’s economy cannot continue to grow under the present set of PAP
policies. To help Singapore grow economically again and to help
Singaporeans tide over this recession, the SDP proposes the following:
• Minimum wage of $6 per hour. Under the proposed law, it would be illegal for
workers to be paid less than this amount an hour. This will prevent Singaporean
workers from being exploited.
• Unemployment entitlement. Retrenched workers will be paid three-quarters of
their last drawn salary for the first six months, half of their salary during
the next six months, and one-quarter during the next six months. Each worker
will be allowed to reject three job offers in the one-and-a-half years following
which the employment entitlement ceases.
• Scale back GLCs. The Singapore government should withdraw from businesses and
let the private sector take the lead.
Foreign worker
policy
While Singaporeans are losing their jobs, the
PAP insists on taking in foreigners in order to suppress the wages of the
people. The SDP will push for a Singaporeans First Policy, which will insist
that employers retrench foreign workers first and only lay off Singaporean
workers as a last resort.
Income gap
Due to PAP policies, the rich are getting
richer and the poor poorer. In 2000, while the rich saw their incomes rise 12%,
wages of poor Singaporeans dived 30%. Even middle-income earners became poorer
by 3 %. And while the ministers increased their salaries by as much as 14%, the
PAP cut workers’ CPF by 10 percentage points. The Prime Minister is paid
$150,000 a month, 5 times more than the President of the U.S. If elected, the
SDP will see to it that your salaries are not cut at the whim and fancy of the
PAP.
CPF
In 1996, the SDP said that Singaporeans
didn’t have enough CPF savings to retire on. In 1999, the PAP admitted this
shocking news. The CPF Board revealed that in 1997, the average CPF savings of
Singaporeans was $30,000, which is hardly sufficient for retirement. The problem
is that most of our savings have been used for buying HDB flats, the prices of
which have been artificially inflated by the PAP as a form of revenue for the
Government. To protect your retirement savings, the SDP proposes:
• That the CPF contribution rate be capped at 15% and be divided equally between
employer and employee.
• This amount be put aside strictly for retirement and not be used for housing.
• That the price of HDB prices be reduced to cost and not to be a profit-making
venture for the Government.
Education
Because of streaming at the primary four
level, many of our children find it difficult to cope with the unbearable
classroom pressure and, as a result, develop psychological problems. In 2000,
20,000 children had to seek psychiatric help. The PAP system is to identify a
few high-performers at the expense of the majority. In Parliament, the SDP will
push the PAP to:
• Abolish streaming at the primary four level.
• Reduce the workload on young children so that they can enjoy rather than fear
going to school.
• Ensure that attention is paid to the majority of the children and not just to
the minority few.
Health care
cost
It is a well-known fact that health care is
too expensive in Singapore. This is because of the PAP’s policy to turn public
hospitals into commercial enterprises. The SDP will not stand for this and
insists that the Government subsidises health care costs, especially for the
elderly and chronically ill.
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