I share the view that it is useful to convene a national conversation to find ways to help lower-income Singaporeans (Call for ideas to help low-income Singaporeans; April 2, 2018, The Straits Times).
It is estimated that by the year 2020, Singapore is
expected to have a total of 188,000 millionaires, an increase of 18%. The government with the support of such
wealthy people, philanthropists and Members of Parliament could set up a
sustainable fund to provide that much-needed support for lower-income
Singaporeans to empower them, and in the process, lift them out of poverty with
dignity. Those who are successful need
to consider ‘paying in forward’.
I suggest we name it, the National Low-Income Fund (NLIF). Through NLIF, the government can
help find jobs for this group, providing them with a monthly allowance of
anything between $200 to S300 to cover their meals and another $100 for
transport until such time when they get a job.
Many needy Singaporeans have hardly any friends
because the reality is that when you are poor, you become isolated, you are
deprived of recreation and you worry about when your next meal gets on the table.
With a total of 89 MPs alone and based on their monthly
allowance of $16,000, if all of them voluntarily contribute $500 a month, in
one year the NLIF will have a sum of S534,000 to provide some financial support
for the lower-income group here.
Separately, it is rather troubling to read of the
on-going squabble between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his two younger
siblings (Hsien Yang: Mr Lee’s wishes not correctly represented, April 4,2018,
The Straits Times)
Both Lee Hsien Yang and his sister Dr Lee Wei Ling
want Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s wishes of demolishing 38 Oxley Road to be respected and fulfilled.
Given that PM Lee has the unenviable task of building
the 4th generation leadership, such on-going squabbles is unhelpful
– real or imagined. Perhaps, some compromise can be made with the house
demolished, the land sold with the half of the proceeds equally divided among
the 3 siblings and the other half to be handed to the NLIF to support needy
Singaporeans – if there are no objections from the Lee family.
I know for a fact that Dr Lee Wei Ling is a very
compassionate person as during her tenure at the Neuroscience Centre in Tan
Tock Seng Hospital, she always helped the sick and the needy. I urge her and her brother Hsian Yang to rise
to the occasion, put aside their differences with their elder brother PM Lee,
and give hope to all Singaporeans.
In working towards reconciliation, let
us be reminded of the positive traits of the Japanese whom during his time, the
late Mr Lee Kuan Yew often admired: “When the Japanese mend broken objects,
they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that
when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.” - Barbara Bloom-
Raymond Anthony Fernando
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