GE2020: Singapore General Election - 10 July 2020

[Voodooman]

2 hours ago, Fcw75 said:

I know many do not like Lim Tean but this post of his is not so bad.

 

What Is The Role Of A Mayor? 

The feverish discussion currently raging in Singapore about how useful the 5 PAP appointed Mayors are provide a useful starting point for examining what the proper role of a Mayor should be and whether this should be a part time job commanding an obscene annual salary of $660,000. 

We must remember that this discussion has been simmering for years and did not arise simply because of what Pritam Singh brought up in Parliament earlier this week. 

In most democratic countries, a Mayor is the head of the municipal or local government. This position makes sense in a medium size to big country, especially one where there is a Federal system, where there is separation between the National and State or Provincial governments. So Mayors are common in the European and American democracies. 

A common denominator in true democracies is that Mayors are elected and are not part of the National Parliament or Congress.They are elected in Mayoral or Municipal elections. Examples of well known Mayors include Boris Johnson ( current British PM ), who was the Mayor of London for 2 terms and Jacques Chirac ( former President Of France ) who was a long serving Mayor of Paris. Both were elected to their positions of Mayor and both were never Members of Parliament when they were Mayors. Both ran big cities and had their hands full doing a full time job. 

In Singapore, the position of Mayor appears to me to be an add on (or tambah) position! 

The 1st qualification appears to be that you must be a PAP MP. Never mind if you are not a full time Mayor. You can double hat or triple hat and be a Mininster Of State plus an MP on TOP of being Mayor. But you are still entitled to an obscene salary of $660,000 a year besides your other salaries or “allowances” for wearing other hats. 

That this Mayor’s position cannot be considered serious is demonstrated by the fact that 4 out of the 5 incumbents are part-time Mayors. And indeed one has to query why the position of Mayor is needed when we have so many Ministries, agencies and other bodies which can carry out the same work which the Mayors do. I wasn’t the least bit impressed by the work done by the Mayors which Denise Phua spelt out in Parliament earlier this week. 

And it was facile for Denise to rebut Pritam by suggesting that he should not politicise the issue since he was granted and accepted the office of Leader of the Opppsition. Is she seriously suggesting that the superfluous office of Mayor is the equivalent of the Office of Leader of the Opposition, which has the vital constitutional role of bringing the government of the day to account? 

When I read Denise’s rebuttal to Pritam, it appeared to me that the sum total of her argument was that he should “shut up” and be grateful for the patronage of the Prime Minister in giving him his current Office. 

If I was in Pritam’s shoes, I would have lambasted Denise for insulting the intelligence of the Singapore electorate. 

Mayors have no place in a small country like Singapore. If they insist on having Mayors, then do the decent thing and ask all these Mayors to resign from Parliament and be candidates in Mayoral elections! Also, why do we need 5 Mayors when cities such as London, Paris and Shanghai, which have much bigger populations and land areas, have only one? 

The quality of debate in Parliament which came from the PAP side this week ( including Alex Yam, Ong Ye Kung, Gan Siow Huang, Heng Swee Keat, Carrie Tan and of course Denise Phua ) was so dismal, you have to fear for the future of our country.

Do we need a mayor?  We already have a PM and 90+ MPs for a country with 5.6 m population, smaller than population of cities like London, Tokyo, Paris and NY. 

The title is mayor but the JD is not.  Perhaps need to change title, which is misleading and $660k for a role that can be done part time is really too much. 

 

[Playtime]

6 minutes ago, Voodooman said:

Do we need a mayor?  We already have a PM and 90+ MPs for a country with 5.6 m population, smaller than population of cities like London, Tokyo, Paris and NY. 

The title is mayor but the JD is not.  Perhaps need to change title, which is misleading and $660k for a role that can be done part time is really too much. 

 

Just call it 660k wage supplement 🤣

[Wt_know]

25 minutes ago, Voodooman said:

Do we need a mayor?  We already have a PM and 90+ MPs for a country with 5.6 m population, smaller than population of cities like London, Tokyo, Paris and NY. 

can't imagine a city like London or Tokyo has 90 MPs ...  

and to top it off ... still need extra 5 x Mayors ...  

Edited February 28, 2021 by Wt_know

[Wind30]

3 hours ago, Fcw75 said:

I know many do not like Lim Tean but this post of his is not so bad.

The 1st qualification appears to be that you must be a PAP MP. Never mind if you are not a full time Mayor. You can double hat or triple hat and be a Mininster Of State plus an MP on TOP of being Mayor. But you are still entitled to an obscene salary of $660,000 a year besides your other salaries or “allowances” for wearing other hats. 

 

 

duh..... you know that he is FACTUALLY wrong right? You only get one salary for office holders if you wear more than one hat. This is repeated like so many times. common, you need to get your facts straight.

I actually dig a little into the current mayors and it seems only Yow Yen Ling has other office positions. She is a minister of state and I am pretty sure she get zero cents for being a Mayor.

Why the the other three, Desmond choo, Alex Yam, Mohd Fahmi,  part time mayors? Do they hold regular jobs outside civil service???

If they do, they really really should not get a mayor salary. I mean out of their MP responsibilities, they still got how much time for Mayor... sigh... really waste money

Found my answer. It seems that they hold PAP related jobs outside of being a Mayor??? 

The BIG question I have does Alex Yam get double pay??? Ms Phua says they only get one pay but "executive director of the People's Action Party" does not sound like a civil service job.... This is really weird. 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/budget-debate-mayor-denise-phua-rebuts-pritam-singh-on-relevance-of-cdcs-and

 

Ms Phua replied that she was the only full-time mayor.

"And that's, I think, because the Prime Minister feels that I'm running the largest district here - 23 divisions. My fellow mayors are all double-hatting, or triple-hatting sometimes," she said. "But I do know that they only get one pay."

South West District mayor Low Yen Ling is a minister of state, North East District and South East District mayors Desmond Choo and Fahmi Aliman are with the National Trades Union Congress, and North West District mayor Alex Yam is executive director of the People's Action Party.

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Wind30

[Playtime]

18 minutes ago, Wind30 said:

 

duh..... you know that he is FACTUALLY wrong right? You only get one salary for office holders if you wear more than one hat. This is repeated like so many times. common, you need to get your facts straight.

I actually dig a little into the current mayors and it seems only Yow Yen Ling has other office positions. She is a minister of state and I am pretty sure she get zero cents for being a Mayor.

Why the the other three, Desmond choo, Alex Yam, Mohd Fahmi,  part time mayors? Do they hold regular jobs outside civil service???

If they do, they really really should not get a mayor salary. I mean out of their MP responsibilities, they still got how much time for Mayor... sigh... really waste money

He is not wrong.  His argument against  is still miles ahead of anyone in the govt for.

Key points. 

1) there is NO need for these mayors... let alone so many. The numerous ministers and ministries are there. All million dollar jobs. 

2) the way they are politically given.. rewarded.. with those appointments is a big issue and constitute a abuse of power. 

3) the salaries are obscene. Refer point 1. Try telling your boss:" put my salary as 660k.. but I promise won't collect. "

Denise is a perfect example of the entitled lil Karens this system created. 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Playtime

[Fcw75]

23 minutes ago, Wind30 said:

 

duh..... you know that he is FACTUALLY wrong right? You only get one salary for office holders if you wear more than one hat. This is repeated like so many times. common, you need to get your facts straight.

I actually dig a little into the current mayors and it seems only Yow Yen Ling has other office positions. She is a minister of state and I am pretty sure she get zero cents for being a Mayor.

Why the the other three, Desmond choo, Alex Yam, Mohd Fahmi,  part time mayors? Do they hold regular jobs outside civil service???

If they do, they really really should not get a mayor salary. I mean out of their MP responsibilities, they still got how much time for Mayor... sigh... really waste money

Found my answer. It seems that they hold PAP related jobs outside of being a Mayor??? 

The BIG question I have does Alex Yam get double pay??? Ms Phua says they only get one pay but "executive director of the People's Action Party" does not sound like a civil service job.... This is really weird. 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/budget-debate-mayor-denise-phua-rebuts-pritam-singh-on-relevance-of-cdcs-and

 

Ms Phua replied that she was the only full-time mayor.

"And that's, I think, because the Prime Minister feels that I'm running the largest district here - 23 divisions. My fellow mayors are all double-hatting, or triple-hatting sometimes," she said. "But I do know that they only get one pay."

South West District mayor Low Yen Ling is a minister of state, North East District and South East District mayors Desmond Choo and Fahmi Aliman are with the National Trades Union Congress, and North West District mayor Alex Yam is executive director of the People's Action Party.

 

Come, here’s his FB post. Please go rebutt him or F him there.

Anyway, what’s the purpose of a Mayor here? Furthermore, there’s 5. 
 

In the end, there’s only 1 question. Do we need a mayor here?

Edited February 28, 2021 by Fcw75

[Weez911]

1 hour ago, Voodooman said:

Do we need a mayor?  We already have a PM and 90+ MPs for a country with 5.6 m population, smaller than population of cities like London, Tokyo, Paris and NY. 

The title is mayor but the JD is not.  Perhaps need to change title, which is misleading and $660k for a role that can be done part time is really too much. 

Singaporeans and taxpayers don't need any of these 5 Mayors but pap need these roles to reward their cronies. Pinky probably doesn't believe that Singaporeans will join politics for altruistic reasons, and that's why we are seeing the creation of many redundant posts that pay very well in his govt. 

Ultimately this very expensive tax burden will be reassessed at the polls every 5 years. Can't wait to see the back of them.

Edited February 28, 2021 by Weez911

[Lethalstrike]

5 hours ago, Playtime said:

isnt this another tax funded miliionaire who never worked a day in the real world????

 

The issue of foreign workers in Singapore was again raised in Parliament during the Budget debate on Thursday (Feb 25), with MPs from both sides of the aisle speaking up on the matter.

Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai (PSP) said there was an “urgent need” to rebalance the local foreign worker mix in Singapore’s job market.

He suggested that the Government “level the playing field” for Singaporean workers by imposing a S$1,200 monthly levy on Employment Pass holders. This will address the “wage disadvantage” that Singaporeans have because of Central Provident Fund contributions, he said.

“This levy will differentiate the true foreign talents ... from the foreign talents who are simply cheap labour that compete unfairly with our Singaporeans and whom our economy has become overly dependent on,” he said.

Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang said that Mr Leong’s party is entitled to their view that the foreign-local worker mix needs rebalancing, but the Government has a different view.\

“I cannot help but come to the conclusion that Mr Leong and PSP do not believe that Singapore should be an open city connected to the world having locals and foreigners complementing each other, and he wants Singapore to close up for the top jobs to be given to Singaporeans only,” she said.

Responding to his suggestion for a levy on EP holders, she said: “A blanket levy on EP holders is a signal to foreign investors that we don’t quite welcome them bringing in their own talent.”

Denying that PSP wants Singapore to close up, Mr Leong again raised the issue of having a Singaporean CEO for local banks, asking: “What is MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) doing?”

Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung, who is an MAS board member, also jumped in, saying that he had already covered what MAS has done to cultivate local talent in the finance industry in a previous debate.

“We always wish that there’s a menu that says we get all the jobs but yet no competition, but I’m sorry there’s no such menu. The menu is open up, more competition, but we build capabilities and we can seize more opportunities,” he said.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...apore-14281844

 

Classic PAP response lah. 

We complain about FTs, they went ahead and zham the Work Passes, causing certain sectors to face the labour crunch (F&B service staff, construction). 

We point them out that the laissez-faire policy of letting in Employment Passes unchecked & unlevied (fake degrees, IT sector dominated by CECA), PAP will label us as xenophobic. 

Ah Gan is just the female version of Chan Chun Sing, spent the entire working life within the SAF. Nothing new, next please....

[Playtime]

1 minute ago, Lethalstrike said:

Classic PAP response lah. 

We complain about FTs, they went ahead and zham the Work Passes, causing certain sectors to face the labour crunch (F&B service staff, construction). 

We point them out that the laissez-faire policy of letting in Employment Passes unchecked & unlevied (fake degrees, IT sector dominated by CECA), PAP will label us as xenophobic. 

Ah Gan is just the female version of Chan Chun Sing, spent the entire working life within the SAF. Nothing new, next please....

And her somehow failing to know that her a paper general.. there are literally thousands and thousands of combat proven FT commanders... surely cheaper better faster,  if she belives in unrestricted FT policy.. she think she can be general 🤣🤣🤣

 

She should go ask the new rod nsf... how's life ... don't think they got golden parachute waiting. 

[Kb27]

Sg never have mayors before.

Did mayors make your life better today ?

[Fcw75]

13 minutes ago, Kb27 said:

Sg never have mayors before.

Did mayors make your life better today ?

Yep, what have the mayors done for you?

Some didn’t even know there’s mayors for the past few years drawing such obscene salary until pritam singh talked about it in parliament. 😵

They create these positions simply to reward the good boys and gals who obediently listen to LHL.

Edited February 28, 2021 by Fcw75

[Wind30]

1 hour ago, Playtime said:

He is not wrong.  His argument against  is still miles ahead of anyone in the govt for.

Key points. 

1) there is NO need for these mayors... let alone so many. The numerous ministers and ministries are there. All million dollar jobs. 

2) the way they are politically given.. rewarded.. with those appointments is a big issue and constitute a abuse of power. 

3) the salaries are obscene. Refer point 1. Try telling your boss:" put my salary as 660k.. but I promise won't collect. "

Denise is a perfect example of the entitled lil Karens this system created. 

 

 

? I dont have issues with his other points but the office holders do only get one salary if holding multiple hats, contary to what he said. If he wants to post something he should fact check his post

[Fcw75]

40 minutes ago, Lethalstrike said:

Classic PAP response lah. 

We complain about FTs, they went ahead and zham the Work Passes, causing certain sectors to face the labour crunch (F&B service staff, construction). 

We point them out that the laissez-faire policy of letting in Employment Passes unchecked & unlevied (fake degrees, IT sector dominated by CECA), PAP will label us as xenophobic. 

Ah Gan is just the female version of Chan Chun Sing, spent the entire working life within the SAF. Nothing new, next please....

Good thing is she still can learn on the job and take home good money every month. This kind of job where to find?

[Playtime]

24 minutes ago, Wind30 said:

? I dont have issues with his other points but the office holders do only get one salary if holding multiple hats, contary to what he said. If he wants to post something he should fact check his post

K.

I'm curious. 

If a mp +mayor. 

So collect the higher or lower?

[Wt_know]

MP allowance $192.5K per annum is sure collect because it’s an “allowance”

i suppose collect $192.5K allowance + “appointment” ... no meh?

and + "directorship" ???

i stand corrected. 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Wt_know

[Playtime]

8 minutes ago, Wt_know said:

MP allowance $192.5K per annum is sure collect because it’s an “allowance”

i suppose collect $192.5K allowance + “appointment” ... no meh?

i stand corrected. 

Wah... 够奸啊。。。 🤣🤣🤣

Like that depending on wording.. can actually collect multiple

[Freeder]

KNN.. all collect so much money for what?

To serve the people or so called servant of the people must be paid so much?

Really no shame at all....

 

[Staff69]