What the people were asking for:
"NSmen should have more subsidies for further education. We should have a better chance of entering universities instead of foreign students."
(Mr Teo, who works in finance)
"They have served two years of their lives. They deserve some form of tangible recognition for their efforts... Subsidies on housing and medical benefits would be a start."
(Ms Fatin, a personal assistant)
This small amount of handout is usually associated with buying supporters' votes, but the next election is 3 long years' away. Still, the money goes a long way to offset the $3 administrative levy each time one draws on his own Medisave to pay for outpatient treatment. Yes, Virginia, since 1984 the Singapore Government had been charging you to access your own money. But that is supposed to be removed from April 1, unless it's someone's idea of an April Fool joke. Mr Yeow, single, earning $450 a month, explained what $3 means to him, "Everyday, I spend only $2 on lunch. If I eat $3 meals, I won't have enough money left."
Delving further into the NS45 HomeTeamNS pamphlet, one comes across the offer to use $20 of the free cash to sign up for a PAssion card. Not the kind of passion offered to a certain ex-House Speaker by a passionate PA member. The card presumably provides access to 3 HomeTeamNS club houses at Bukit Batok, Balestier and Chinatown which are being upgraded in 2013, where "members can expect a one-stop lifestyle destination with a wide range of sports and social facilities, food & beverages outlets and retail shops." Hang on to your $50 to $100 vouchers, you'll find it barely sufficient for hawker center meals.
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Peanuts.
ReplyDeleteWhat do they think I am?
A stupid monkey?
omfg .... daft singaporean still in dreamland??
ReplyDeleteit's not NS that is fucking up the careers and lifes of local born male singapore
BUT ...
the the resevists liablities that is screwing up those who had served NS .... excluding those white horses
which employers will be happy to see their employees going for ict twice a year?
yes ... i forced to attend at least twice a year, two weeks each time FOR TEN FUCKING YEARS!!
ever wonder how many salaried non-privileged male singaporean really make it to the top management?
fuck lee hsien loong and dogs
fuck goh keng swee too ....
long live lee kuan yew ... be mentally alert
Yet we will sign up for the freebies.
ReplyDeleteFor rejecting them does nothing for us or anyone else.I can still vote otherwise.
Just take that voucher, but take it remembering that they will find new ways of 'taking back' that carrot they dangled in front of you, such as new taxes and increased costs elsewhere. It all eventually gets evened out for them, so that they paid nothing to Singaporeans eventually. And yes, vote for anything BUT them, to make the point clear that your conscience cannot be bought with money.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. They give you a drumstick but take a chicken from you.
DeleteYes, and we paid for the administrative costs of these vouchers too ... $15 ?
DeleteSwedish, Danish, Finish, South Korea, New Zealand, multi parties systems concentrated on developing the local populations, which lead to better products for export and a better supporting social programs, which lead them produce many leading products and innovators of the world? Which less inhibited in exchange of ideas? Many suggestions are neutral not pro any parties? They can't give excuses for failures?
ReplyDeleteMulti parties system, lead to heavy competitions of ideas from various parties, crack their brains, trying to bring the best ideas for the local populations? Which is less costly to run, lead to more innovatives and creatives solutions? More open discussions?
Single parties systems lead to more and more cheaper foreign workers or immigrants,which lead to take away local jobs, lead to break up in families and casinos problems? Lead to more and more people sleep in cages and the streets, More and more handouts, less and less jobs for locals, which lead to brain drains highly skilled and qualified locals, which unable to complete with cheaper third world foreigners left the countries, wastage of tax payers money?
SO generous.
ReplyDeleteThis is to retain your Singaporean core for the influx to replace those babies who were never born?
ReplyDeleteOne University Dean? or Professor? once mentioned that there are no poor people in Singapore. Or did he actually intended to mean no beggars ?
ReplyDeleteLooks like our NS Men appears to be beggars in the eyes of our PAP leaders with payment of these $50~$100 vouchers ?
More expensive system to maintain the top lead, ten times the equivalents salaries of the Nordic ministers salaries, need more indirect taxes, more indirect taxes lead need more levies, more levies lead need more cheaper foreigner workers, which lead to less jobs for locals, which lead to more excuses,which lead to more indirect taxes to pay the top, which lead to more casinos and broken families?
ReplyDelete$100 for NS
ReplyDelete$1,000,000 for PAP mini-clown
Who draft ?
Conscription is one of the worst human right violation.
ReplyDeleteSingaporeans should rally for it to be abolished.
patriot
They do not even give cash but vouchers to be redeemed for lifestyle privileges. What a nasty joke that only the PAP can think of. Honestly, how many NS Men really bother about joining HomeTeamNS clubhouse? This kind of redeemable vouchers are given out by many F & B outlets, shopping malls, departmental stores etc, so what is the f***ing big deal.
ReplyDeletethe big deal is, the money goes back to their pocket..lol!!!!
DeleteI received a Family Recognition Voucher worth $100 for my good performance during my ICT. Please take a look at this link (http://www.ns.sg/cs/content/eServices/mindef/Family%20Recognition%20Voucher/DigitalMedia/FRV_rewards_package_v2.jpg) which shows the so called benefits. The entire scheme is sub-contracted to a private tour company called Bonvo. In it are all the packages available. Out of which most are priced above $100, but it wasn't stated on the website. You would thought that a dinner for two at the flyer or river cruise would cost $100. No, you still need to top up with CASH in order to enjoy the so called "reward". I threw away my voucher after knowing this is how my country reward me for serving the nation. Thank you PAP. I will always remember this.
ReplyDeleteCan this be reported to CPIB ? How much PAP earn from this arrangement with Bonvo ? Making use of government to earn money ? Where is the money gone to ? Nothing is free according to PAP.
DeleteIs Bonvo another $2 company?
DeleteAnybody got check or not?
Bonvo Travel (S) Pte Ltd lists its businesses as:
DeleteLifestyle & rewards;
Meetings & incentives;
Corporate travel
What has that to do with Mindef and NSmen? Sounds like another AIM type operation. Or another Brompton bikes deal.
The devil is in the details, like those banks on credit card promotions @ IT shows where they say a sure-win lucky dip for a certain amount of spending charged to their cards. Then you get those cheap-skate vouchers where it is only valid if you spend a certain minimum amount at the designated shops. Even some of are big 4 banks are involved in this type of scams and you somehow feel cheated by these cronies.
DeleteSo the obvious question is why does Mindef get involved in this type of promotions .... Because some opportunist grassroots leaders want to share the pie?
When the PAP screw you, they make it like they are doing you a favour or doing it for your own good. They withhold your CPF and tell you that you will have money for your dotage in JB while they get to play monopoly for their million dollar bonus. And they bring in more foreigners to increase the GDP for your wellbeing while they get to meet their KPI, again for higher bonus.
DeleteBy the way AIM got the contract from the Town Council because as a PAP owned company, it is better placed to honour its commitments to the residents. The PAP doing us a favour for AIM to get the contract?
We have had 50 years of so called "well qualified" talents from PAP to govern Singapore.
ReplyDeleteAnd look at the mess they have brought us.
This is a well proven formula for continuing disaster in Singapore.
It's time we voted in Singaporeans who truly represent our values.
We can always hire foreign talents/experts from United Nations to help us formulate better policies for Singapore.
It's not as if existing PAPig policies have been very successful.
“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Christopher Columbus
Prime Minister Low Thia Khiang.
Start getting used to it.
I am glad many share my views - it is becoming quite blatant that the huge procurement budget which increases far more than the money spent to improve the lives of NSF and NSmen, are totally "out of the legislative" process. This message must be picked up by all the alternative parties even if they do not like to challenge the PAPIGS and paper genderals. Perhaps a last "dig for gold" on the part of PAPIGs before the end game arrive in 2016, how else to explain this steadfast determination to buy the F35, when everyone else, including the Pentagon, have decided that this project is doomed? Where are our billions going?
ReplyDeleteExactly where are our billions going?
DeleteRemember Chen Shui Bian & his gang members went to the extent to set up secretive companies just to act as middlemen to facilitate military spending by their Defence Ministry.
Over here, how do we ever know whether PAP is ever involved in this kind of hanky pinky especially when they even dare to set up $2 company to act as middlemen for our town councils?
Remember, when you sign up for a PAssion card you are also funding the PAP sycophants and whores such as Laura Ong.
ReplyDeleteHave some integrity. Don't be like the unenlightened masses who rush to Ikea just to gorge themselves on cheap meatballs.
Take your $20 and your PAssion card, and your condescending, petty 'reward' crumbs bestowed upon conscripts, and shove them all up where the sun don't shine.
You want to reward NSmen. Cut the number of reservist cycles from 10 to 7. That'll be quite enough.
"You want to reward NSmen. Cut the number of reservist cycles from 10 to 7. That'll be quite enough."
Deleteheck that... stop criminalizing NSmen who are merely unfit and unable to attend your stinking ungodly timed RT/IPPT sessions due to work or family commitments...
Do you know that they have outsourced this whole exercise to an external company who is doing a lousy job and have still not send out the vouchers more than 3 weeks after you have signed up for them? The excuse given was that they are dealing with 900,000 NS men though they say it will take 3 weeks to receive them.
ReplyDeleteBe patient lah!
DeleteMaybe it's a $2 company?
Need to outsource the work to another company with real employees?
900k? seriously how many will be bothered to logged on to the website to registered for this charitable gift from the finance minister?
DeleteThe money to pay for these vouchers come from MINDEF which has been budgeted.
ReplyDeleteYou do not get cash but the company handling these vouchers, PAssion cards all will get cash. So the money goes one big round and back into same pot.
Even if Bonvo charges $1 for each mailing, they stand to make a million dollars for the exercise.
ReplyDeleteHas to be a sweetheart deal for some friends with Mindef connections.
well ..... in the past, it was reported that some bus stops cost more than $200,000 to built
Deletea matter of;
"WILLING BUYER WILLING SELLER"
in a market ecocomy
Is it the reason to have so many foreign workers (2 millions of them), need the levies to pay the ministers' high pay and other indirect taxes?
ReplyDeleteWhy many countries don't so many foreign workers, indirect taxes, or any other excuses? Should ministers' pay lower to the equivalents of the Nordic countries' minsiters wages, so that don't need so many foreign workers?
Once again, proof that our govt is a big spender when it comes to hardware like $400million on one F35 jet, but a stingy spender when it comes to treating our software (people) well.
ReplyDeleteLooks like they are planning to make a lot of lemonade.
@"one comes across the offer to use $20 of the free cash to sign up for a PAssion card."
ReplyDeleteSigh, another own goal. Not v savvy politically. But at least got try lah.
they need to justify the cost of running the PAssion card
Deletepersonaly do not know who operating and maintaining it .... but surely it will not be cheap
the $20 fee for a 5 years subscription which double as a cash card as good as a freebies (used to have additional free gifts too)
in my daft opinion it merely to justify the existence of this card
When I read about the Health Minister telling us that the Government is spending a lot more money on healthcare, I was skeptical. True enough, the whole excercise of more Government spending was about building infrastructure and nothing about reducing healthcare cost. Is this what we are complaining about? Obviously not! The spending must be more infrastructure to cater to more foreigners, not to make healthcare really, really affordable for Singaporeans.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, when the Government talks about spending more on this and that, we must look more closely at what the real intention is. For example, spending $1.1 billion to help bus companies buy more buses instead of reducing fares is not helping commuters. But the Government and MSM are making a song and dance of how much is spent to improve transport for Singaporeans. They are obviously helping those not in need of help but denying help to those really in need of help. They must really think all Singaporeans are daft and cannot put 2 and 2 together.