House Visit on 9 May 2015 (Elias Road)

Today's Walkabout is concentrated on Block 615 Elias Road. The outreach walkabout kicked off at 10.00am sharp, anchored by Kuswadi B. Atnawi.

Many of the residents were chatty and very welcoming this time round, spending more time sharing their concerns and suggestions with the amicable team.

From level 18 , the team slowly made their way down to the lower floors, handing out the SDA pamphlets, explaining to the residents what this is all about, sending their regards and trying to understand the residents better.

This time round, some of the residents feedback about the high costs of living in Singapore, especially the exorbitant costs of transportation and housing.

One *Mr. Ang (name changed to protect privacy) expressed unhappiness at the fact that oil price has gone down but the cost of petrol in Singapore continued to soar. "This makes no sense at all, right? Sometimes I don't even know what is the justification for this price increase!"

Interestingly, this time round, there were residents who also commented against the cleanliness of the estate. *Mr. Tang (name changed to protect privacy) remarked that the estate is peppered with litter. "Sometimes when we hang clothes out to dry, we get all sort of gravy or stains on the clothes no thanks to those who throw things out the window. In the past we never had that issue!"

Other members thanked SDA for making the rounds and taking time to visit them. A couple of them spent sometime discussing the contents of the pamphlets, touching on the CPF issues especially.  There were those who offered suggestions for the upcoming issue of the pamphlet.

The SDA team finally completed the visit at 12.15pm, touching lives and gaining better understanding on the changes the residents here hope to see.   It was yet another fruitful and meaningful morning well spent.



If you have any feedback, suggestions or would like to be a part of SDA or DLs' Caring Community, please feel free to get in touch via email or our Facebook page here or leave your comments on this blog itself. If you would like to be a part of this meaningful initiative, please feel free to get in touch too.

Crossing the border for Convalescence?

为什么新加坡老弱需要这么辛苦过海去邻国的疗养院疗养呢?

难道是我们的疗养院床位不够,应付不了需求?

我们的疗养院不是有政府津贴吗,难道津贴之后,低中收入的家庭还是承担不起吗?

政府推广建国一代,为什么却不能够满足老弱低中收入家庭的需求吗?

 

 

Why do elderly Singaporeans need to spend so much efforts to cross the borders to neighbouring countries for convalescence?

 

Could it be that we do not have enough infirmary beds to cope with the demand for it?

Our nursing homes do not have government subsidies; even after the allowances, the low and medium-income families are still unable to afford it?

Government are promoting the founding generation, but why are they not able to meet the needs of elderly and low income families?

Neighborhood Estate Harvesting

我支持这项活动,因为我在2011年竞选时,它是我的竞选计划书中的其中一个项目。当时有人还曾经把我提出的计划当成笑话看,如今三巴旺推出在区里种菜,把收成送低收入家庭和团体。

希望能够看到更多选区也能让退休或是失业的居民在区里种菜给供应自己食用另外三分之二再送给低收入家庭和团体。

I am in favour of this activity, because it was one of the suggestions listed in my proposal during my election campaign in 2011. During that time, there were those who mocked my proposal, but look - Sembawang is currently carrying out the idea of growing vegetation within the estates, and distributing them to low-income families and organisations. I hope that there would be more estates allowing the retirees or unemployed individuals do some farming within the estates in order to feed themselves and also disseminate to other low-income families and organisations.

Insurance policies

It is yet another policy that may potentially cause loss of jobs and innocent people to hit the walls literally.

The process of purchasing insurance is easy. But when the policyholder and / or the insured is injured and needs the insurance payout for medical treatment, they may face the possibility of not being able to claim anything at all because they lack the professional know-how to do so.

Hence, I hereby suggest that everyone seeks the advice of professional financial advisers or consultants when it comes to buying insurance; this would be the best form of assurance for you and your family.

 

 

 

 

 

又是一个砸人饭碗又可能带无辜平民撞墙壁的政策。

购买容易,到时出了事,受保者已受伤,等保险金来救急,却没有专业知识索赔,到时因为没有足够的保险专业知识,出现没得赔偿的问题。

所以我奉劝大家要买保险,最好还是找专业保险员或是财务顾问质询,对你和家人才是最好的保障。

Taxes for Medical Treatment

看看邻国国家比我们大,人口比我们多,在医药设备,私人诊所与医疗中心上都能免消费税,而我们这里营业额超过一百万不管是企业或是医院都一律征收消费税。

为什么我们拥有先进的电脑设备,精锐的公务员,却不能做到区分那些物品或是服务不必收消费税呢?

为什么要每年再发回消费税券呢?

而消费税券的数额是否能真正的帮助低收入家庭抵消我们日常生活开销的费用呢?
...

在我看来,发消费税券是一种政治手段,执政党为了笼络人心施展的一种小恩小惠的手段。

对于样样都征收消费税,的政府会是一个心系于民,还是心系于钞票的政府呢?

Seeing as neighbouring countries are bigger than us with larger population, yet they are able to do away with service tax for their medical facilities, medical centres and private clinics. Over here, all enterprises earning more than one million in terms of turnover would impose GST (goods and service tax), including hospitals.

Why is it that we are able to acquire the most advanced technology and brilliant public servants, yet unable to do away with charging taxes for goods and services?

Why is there a need to give out GST vouchers every year?

Is the amount for the GST vouchers really able to help the low-income families and reduce their daily expenditure?

In my view, the GST vouchers are merely political means deployed by the party in power to buy the hearts and win the favours of the people.

A government that imposes taxes for all goods and services - are they a government with a heart for the people, or are they merely concerned with monetary returns?