Rises Taxes ....

[Barnsley]

http://www.straitstimes.com/politics/ta ... row-pm-lee

As Singapore’s spending needs grow, raising taxes is inevitable: PM Lee
While Singapore has enough revenue for this term of Government, spending has been going up, and will rise further, said Mr Lee, who was speaking to about 2,000 activists at the PAP convention on Sunday.

Will the Govt put Income Tax up .... or will they go the easy route with GST increases?

[PNGMK]

Actually I'm wondering if they might bring in a CGT tax. A shit load of money has been made recently on property transactions and it's been mostly tax free. That's one tax that would be less painful for the less wealth off here.

[Barnsley]

Actually I'm wondering if they might bring in a CGT tax. A shit load of money has been made recently on property transactions and it's been mostly tax free. That's one tax that would be less painful for the less wealth off here.

Good idea.

Should stick 5%-10% on the basic rate of income tax at the same time!!

[Wd40]

It will be gst, most probably.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/governm ... needs-grow

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[Barnsley]

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/t ... k-closures

[PNGMK]

It will be gst, most probably.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/governm ... needs-grow

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Bloody moronic PAP. I hope they get wiped out in the next GE. They have no compassion for the poor.

[Strong Eagle]

It will be gst, most probably.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/governm ... needs-grow

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Bloody moronic PAP. I hope they get wiped out in the next GE. They have no compassion for the poor.

It's always about the money... and the oligarchs are going to keep theirs. Witness the tax madness on the part of the Republican party in the USA. It is beyond unbelievable. And yet, they persist.

OTOH, the people that voted these Republicans into office deserve to get screwed by them. Unfortunately, the rest of us pay as well.

[earthfriendly]

Bryan Gan : The wording of the law regarding 'illegal assembly' is deliberately worded in an arbitrary way, so as to allow the government maximum discretion as to who to arrest and who not to.

Generally, laws in Singapore function not as a principle that applies to all, but as a policy tool - to be changed willy nilly with with little public consultation as the rulers see fit, to serve short term interests rather than set a standard for what constitutes justice. This is the same whether for manpower laws, media licensing laws, you name it.

Quoted from a public post. In relation to the charges brought against activist Jolovan Wham.

"to serve short term interests rather than set a standard for what constitutes justice"

Therein lies the rub. It is for personal short-term self-gain of the PAP. And this formula trickles down. With far reaching implications ....... e.g corner cutting to make a quick buck (instead of maintaining a tradition of doing good work to build up your reputation). The mentality that the-means-justify-the-ends is rampant and typical in SG. And guess what it leads to? Abuses. I abuse you, and you in turn abuse me back. Justifiable so long as it helps me achieve my personal goals. e.g. overworked maids get to pick up the slat from overworked ma'am and sir. They are puzzled about the mandatory day-off for their domestic workers. "Then who's gonna do the housework"? For these kind of employers, they don't have that kind of consciousness. Cause you gotta grind a person down to his / her last straw?

And this mentality also extends to parent-child relationship. Parents also overworked children (tuition and homework overload) just to stay ahead of the competitions (test scores and school brand), without considerations for the feelings and aspirations of their own kids. And that child is never good enough for those parents....... until she / he gets perfect score, land in the perfect school, perfect career .

And therein lies another rub. PAP will never be good enough for the people . What goes around comes around .

Singapore has developed its economy. But not its culture !

Oligarchies are plentiful all over the world. And one can readily find it in corporate America. Until we, humans stop guarding our personal wealth and readily share our ideas, innovations and intellectual properties, oligarchies will remain a universal human condition (idea of universal pay, to counter impact of robotization, has been proposed). However, there is a major difference between USA and SG. Former is founded on the ideals towards building a more just and equitable society in the long run. And they developed their wealth and economy alongside their political culture. It is not considered mutually exclusive. Whereas SG and China are about the immediate short term gain. Immediate economic development at the expense of cultural (social and political) development. Which model do you think is more sustainable in the long term?

In a gist, and in my little birdie brain, that is why I think democracy (despite all its shortcomings) offers the best chance for creating a civil society. A peaceful and non-violent one. Show me an unequal society and I will show you a revolution. At a very personal level, it explains how I am able to maintain a peaceful household, rather than an in-fighting one. My democratic husband does not force me to eat the food he likes or take up the same hobby he enjoys. I don't force him to eat some of the Chinese food that is too foreign to him. And we let our kids be themselves.

[earthfriendly]

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast ... nts-lawyer

“In Singapore, it is possible that one can be detained and interrogated for some time without a lawyer,” Li said at the time.

That is why the nephew of LHL refuses to face the charge in person. The abuses one has to put up with, in order to live there! I hope he stays away. Cause I don't want to see a promising young man getting incarcerated. When he has not done anything wrong. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

His grandfather started it
His uncle consolidated it
And now, he pays for it

The mysterious ways of how the universe works

[earthfriendly]

In the absence of democracy, due process of the laws and a free and open press, this is what you get........assasinations to kill political/business opponents, accusation of govt fabricating allegations, use of prostitutes, briberies, corruptions. You name it and they have got it.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wo ... e37091123/

The stories of backroom dealing, brutal competition and even spycraft are typically shrouded by the country's powerful elite, who in a country without a free press have often had the tools to keep quiet any unwelcome attention.

PAP better be careful on their use of silencing laws e.g censorship and rights to protest and assemble. And the kind of society SG could descend into. Let that Land of Thugs serve as a warning to all. There are even rumors about plots to assassinate President Xi Jiping. Those who live by the sword ........

[PNGMK]

Read the Singapore constitution section 14 and ask yourself what went wrong that permitted a single party dominated parliament to override fundamental constitutional freedoms.

[earthfriendly]

It took me a while to locate The Constitution. It was never taught in the schools and there is little public interest or awareness about it. And here it is !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_1 ... _Singapore

[PNGMK]

It took me a while to locate The Constitution. It was never taught in the schools and there is little public interest or awareness about it. And here it is !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_1 ... _Singapore

Wholly crap. I (an ignorant PR oilfield trash) just told a Singaporean about their constitution? I'm both proud and horrified. Now EF - why don't they teach it in school? Well if they did perhaps more people would want their inalienable rights restored.

[earthfriendly]

You brought up an excellent point. At elementary school in USA, my children are taught on how bills and measures become laws. And how a little person like herself can get a law passed. It is an onerous process and most are not inclined that way. But that is not the point. The point is it is possible for ordinary citizens to participate in law-making. This is to create awareness in the public psyche that everyone of us can exercise that right. Maintaining democracy is an ongoing task. Passed from generations to generations. This makes it harder for a maverick to march into town and start declaring himself to be the emperor and destroy the country.

Having a critical mass of educated democratic minds makes it harder to get laws passed. In order to make their job easier for themselves, one can see why PAP is not too keen in educating its population. You can't really fault them for that, I mean who goes around intentionally making their lives harder for themselves. But if it compromises the long term survival of the nation, something needs to be done. Democracy was adopted half-heartedly by LKY. Who was an inpatient man and wanted instant transformation of the SG economy. A "democratic" label will help the country attract the much needed western investments. And once again, we see this end-justifies-means mentality. It was never a true democracy anyway. In style but not in substance. Try and survey how well-acquainted the Singaporeans are about their constitution (myself included ). The system of one-man rule is fragile and not sustainable. And false (for that matter, anything false!) democracy is a problem. These freaking Chinese emperors !

whenever a decision is made by either father or son during their respective times as PM, it goes through the legislative process just to make it seem as though democracy is in practice. But apparently, the decisions were foregone conclusions.

https://mustsharenews.com/thum-ping-tjin/

[earthfriendly]

More convolution .....

It said that investigations into three offences against him - allowing the national flag to touch the ground....

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/c ... 1512549513



https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/0 ... -sengkang/

I counted over 30 Singapore flags on the ground, shouldn't these PAP grassroots leaders be charged 30 times ?