Bullshit Minute

Workers' Party manifesto threatens social harmony: Dr Ng Eng Hen

Speaking to constituents on Saturday, Dr Ng had a point-for-point rebuttal for the Workers' Party manifesto.

The Worker's Party wants to abolish all Resident Committees and Citizen Consultative Committees, because it feels communities would have progressed further without them.

But Dr Ng defended these grassroots organisations, which are the social glue.

Seriously, I have never seen those RC and CC people in the decades I live in my estate. What do they do actually?

Organise Square Dancing events for pudgy middle-aged aunties? A social club for retirees? Seat fillers for National Day dinners? A compliants department for aggrieved residents to ask for their covered walkway, or to ask a longer grace period to pay their ultiliy bill ?

Come on. You guys are over-stating their importance.

The Workers' Party also wants to remove policies that have fostered Singapore's multiracial society, like the ethnic quota for housing.

This Dr Ng felt was a recipe for disaster.

How does making quotas on flats foster multiracial harmony? Why flats only?

How does private condos and estates not under this rule? Does that mean that there are no rich racists?

Why not go all the way? Maintain this qutoa on the working places like offices? You send half of your day at work right? Extend the quota to every aspect of Singapore life.

Get Married? Follow the quota for this year.

Have children? You cannot have more children if it skews the quota for your race.

Mixed marriges? Which race do categorise your children? It will be an administrative disaster

Why not go even further. Look at the big picture.

Make the entire Singapore island under this quota. Make sure you have 80% chinese 20% other races strictly. Make sure people leaving Singapore is replaced by an emigrant of the same race.

My point. Why restrict it to only flats if your're serious about racial integration? I don't think the solution to racial integration is as superficial as maintaining a quota on flats.

About maintaining the GRC representitive system to ensure racial harmony. -

Does that mean that before the GRC system, Singapore was a place of racial disharmony?
Did the GRC system even ensure a big significant improvement in racial harmony anyway?

On another suggestion by the Workers' Party to abolish the Elected Presidency, he says the Elected Presidency is an important added check to maintain a corrupt-free Government.

The former President - Mr Ong Teng Cheong tried to question. And see what happened to him.

I don't think this check, however effective, is not worth spending $2m of wages a year to maintain. There are better ways to ultilise the $2m a year.

Finally, the Workers' Party called for more subsidies for the needy.

Dr Ng said the PAP government believes in giving only what they can afford, like the workfare bonus which will come from surpluses.

Did the Worker's Party even propose to spend more that the surpluses? This needs more study, obviously, and Minister Ng needs to rebut this with concrete numbers rather than dismiss it entirely.