[stephenkhoo]

Recently our ex ura chief Liu Thai Ker said it was possible to house 10mil this is certainly a big ambition with the big overhang from the White Paper that incensed Singaporeans and intensified political discussion at all levels of our society, similarly the averge Singaporean feel less involved and nationalistic now more than the days of 80s, 90s till even early 2000s. Today our society is facing complexity from the policies implemented ( which you are all faimiliar ie housing,transport etc) which is more complicated and pose deep challenges ( SMRT stike )to our small nation and society than any other point in the last few decades. While the govt fix the problems effectively and efficiently, the problem we have with housing and transport are deeply entrenched in our society as that of inequality, widening incoming gap and rising living standards which many are unable to cope.

So we have been talking about meritocracy which is true and many of the young people today are more affluent and well read than the young of last generation with better access to education and knowledge through internet, schools and learning institutions. However, the problem today is the unrelenting pursuit of better living, comfort and better jobs which indirectly lead to higher costs of living. This is good if the economy is doing well and jobs plentiful.
However I was reading an article by Economist and it is reported that singapore economy does not seem grow as fast and there was a contraction and slowdown. our govt is aware and is pushing for an urgent need to increase productivity and bring businesses further up the value chain. This in theory works for corporations and SME with solid capital base but how about the majority of SME who forms a large portion of the economy whose product does not fall in this bracket? Furthermore, in recent years costs have balloned especially rental and wages so cheaper countries are more attractive.


audio clip of the economist report on singapore economy

If we dont accelerate this change, more of us locals will be jobless and inequality gap even wider.

This is where I find there is some inequality, despite many schemes to support SME or Startups with grants eg Spring, in itself creates an unlevel playing field when SME pit against bigger players such as GLC or MNCs so for Singaporean SME, I believe a large segment find it so hard to overcome the rising cost that they may simply close their business or move else where.

There must be more co-ops, more partnerships, more must be done by unions, more workfare, more retraining, more done at commercial level to encourage elder/senior to rejoin corporate, wages must go up if there is no min wage. Alot needs to be done on the ground.

watch this video to cheer up, people says singaporeans are strutured in mindset and not creative, i beg to differ especially amongst the young



OVERNIGHT SENSATION: Marketing assistant Nurhafizah Hatman's YouTube clip, in which she delivers an MRT announcement in all four official languages, has garnered over 41,000 views since it was posted on Sunday