Singapore People's Party, 9 Feb 2009
Budget Statement 2009 by Chiam See Tong
This year’s Budget statement is a fair one. Both business people as well as the workers get benefits from this Budget.
In past years, when the economy was bad, the knee jerk reaction of the Government was to cut cost which meant that the CPF contribution rates were cut and there were widespread layoffs. This time round, no such thing happened. Instead, the Government’s priorities were in preserving jobs and building for the future. The budget speech sounded like the first manifesto of the PAP in 1954 whereby it stated that the workers’ wages shall not be cut as a solution to solve the recession of the day. I would urge the Government to encourage companies to train their workers to be more productive and competitive since there was no cut in CPF. Read More
Fight Against Global Warming - Green Vehicles by Chiam See Tong
I applaud the Government for its efforts to promote the use of more energy efficient vehicles as part of its efforts on fighting against global warming.
The Green Vehicle Rebate (GVR) which the Government has introduced since Jan 2001 aims to bring about a change in consumer behavior to become more environmentally friendly and to support clean emerging technologies, by narrowing the cost differential between a green vehicle and the conventional equivalent model. Read More
Fairer Transport Cost For Full Time Matriculated Polytechnic/ Tertiary Students- Chiam See Tong
I like to talk about a proposal to help ease the financial burden of parents of full time matriculated Polytechnic/ Tertiary students.
All full-time students in Singapore are eligible to purchase monthly concession passes. However, full time matriculated Polytechnic/ Tertiary students are treated differently vis-à-vis Junior College (JC) students and students from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
For example, - A JC/ITE student now pays $27.50/month for a Bus Concession Pass, whereas a Polytechnic/Tertiary student is charged $52/month for the same Pass. Read More
