Don’t try to second guess the Minister because your objective input matters greatly: Lawrence Wong to public officers

At the 2022 Annual Public Service Leadership Ceremony, DPM Lawrence Wong tells public officers not to second guess the Minister or try to propose something that they think the Government will find politically convenient to do. This is because the Government values their candid and forthright inputs. Their professional inputs matter greatly, the minister said. […]
Leong Sze Hian’s vain attempt to cast doubt on the Government’s good intention in the PG Package

Leong Sze Hian wrote an article published by TISG (Did the Singapore Govt overestimate the PGP package or under utilised the funds to assist seniors?) that was a stark display of ignorance and a vain attempt at casting doubt on the good intention of the PAP Government in introducing the package. In his hurry to […]
Government looking into NTUC’s call for unemployment support

Manpower Minister Dr Tan See Leng affirmed that the Government has heard National Trades Union Congress (“NTUC”) calls for unemployment support for workers and is currently looking at how it can better support displaced workers. Speaking at Forward Singapore’s Empower Pillar engagement session on 2 November 2022, Dr Tan emphasised that with unemployment support, “the goal is to […]
Singapore’s political contestation will continue, likely to intensify

Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke at the annual public service leadership ceremony on November 1, 2022. In his opening speech, he highlighted that the Public Service played a pivotal role in keeping Singaporeans safe during the Covid-19 pandemic, from keeping borders, checkpoints, hospitals, and vaccination centers running smoothly to reaching out to households and businesses to […]
PME Taskforce call for stronger support for PMEs who become involuntarily unemployed

It’s been a full year since nine recommendations were made by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)-Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) PME Taskforce (PME TF) to strengthen PMEs’ employment and employability and enable them to compete fairly and more effectively in the labour market. Since the release of the recommendations, NTUC-SNEF has been working closely with the Ministry […]
99-year lease is only way to recycle land for future generations to buy BTOs

Today, over 80% of Singaporeans live in public housing. Compared to public housing in most parts of the world, our HDB flats and home ownership model is the exception rather than the norm. Singapore’s housing policies have been uniquely successful. We are the only major city in the world where nearly every young couple getting […]
All surpluses are given back to Singaporeans in different forms: Lawrence Wong

When WP Jamus Lim wrote in a Facebook post that ‘the government must not make money while citizens suffer’ he was just doing what an Opposition MP usually does, using emotive language to paint the government in a negative light even when it is not true. Thus he looks with glee upon the surpluses the […]
GST hike: will Singaporeans rise to the occasion with grit and determination?

At the IMAS-Bloomberg Investment Conference earlier this year (9 March), SM Tharman Shanmugaratnam talked about the ‘perfect long storm’ that the world has entered, shaped by a confluence of many factors. It is an era of profound uncertainty and fragility. The world has been facing rising prices caused by the pandemic recovery and then exacerbated […]
There’s never a good time to raise GST but let’s do right by our fellow Singaporeans

Is there ever a good time to raise GST? Truth is no one likes to pay taxes. This is why people will find every reason to justify why ‘now’ is not a good time to raise GST. So there will never be a good or right time to raise GST. The pandemic was though. Had […]
The ‘return my CPF’ fever has been soundly replaced by a voluntary top-up fever

Remember when the “Return My CPF” and “Vote them out” fever was so high? Multiple protests were organised at Hong Lim Park as speaker after speaker criticized the Government for holding back people’s money, for not keeping their promises and for losing their money. All kinds of claims were made about the retirement sum, minimum […]