So $450 is a basic living wage in Singapore? Why are we paying PM Lee Hsien Loong $183,000 a month (not including bonuses), 400 times of a basic a living wage? No wonder WDA was proud to present their Progressive Wage Model with general cleaners wages starting from $1,000. Cleaners are earning well above the living wages in Singapore. Sometime ago, we thought they had barely enough to eat. Things must have escalated rather quickly since.
Someone tell me, this $450 monthly wage of our disabled employees is not CPF deductible. I find it really difficult to convince myself that $360 of take-home pay is adequate to handle a month of living expenses. Sure, my mom used to tell me, "Last time your father's pay was only $240 but somehow we survived and brought all of you up." Unfortunately that was 40 years ago when a bowl of noodles cost 40 cents, bus fare was 10 cents and the flag down rate for taxis started from 40 cents. That $240 might sound meek but it could get our family a whooping 600 bowls of noodles to tide us through the month. That $450 Bizlink proudly pays the disabled buy them 180 bowls of noodles at $2.50 each or 144 bowls if CPF is deductible. True, an average person only needs 90 meals a month but buses and trains in Singapore do not offer free transport to the disabled, no social organisation provide free laundry, accommodation or pay utility bills in full for the disabled. Perhaps there term 'living wage' cannot be more apt - it keeps the disabled from dying, nothing more, nothing less. Being half alive is better than dead right? It really depends on perspectives. If we were to get our Ministers to live on $450 a month in Singapore, how many will think they are better off dead?
In the 'survival of the fittest' environment of Singapore, there is no place for the disabled. If there are no laws against it, or if Singapore living is a computer game, the people in control will probably have no qualms to erase the existence of the disabled community. We may be working towards it but at the moment we are not North Korean enough to do that. So, the 'unproductive' disabled are left to live, or die, with society providing as little as possible for their community. (Mind you, that $450 is their WAGES, not a welfare payout) The Government would have told us they make the best decision for the country, not the most popular. They may be right. For providing plentiful for the disabled may bring forth second degree issues, such as abuse or discontent. They may be wrong. By showing little care for the less fortunate in society, the less well off population may gradually distrust the Government, wondering when they will be the next tier to be left behind.
A large percentage of the disabled population were born with disabilities, rather than acquired. There is no guarantee for any couple that their next child will not be born with disabilities. Every Singaporean knows that it will be a lifetime of financial and mental strain having a child with disabilities in Singapore because culturally we do not accept them as part of our society. I believe every couple who decided to drop the rubber and would have that nagging fear at the back of their minds. There should be significant figures who decided not to take the risk at all, one of the many contributing factors to our proud record of the lowest birth rate in the world.
When talking about wages, it always reminds me of the meme about how things will change if we put our ministers on minimum wage.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou assume that citizens own this place but if you change your assumption to their owning this red dot, everything falls into place.
ReplyDeleteYou are the serfs and their subjects. Your very existence is for them to profit and if you are old (perhaps you can burden JB) or if you are handicapped, you are a burden and a loss to them. They will be better off if you vacate to make room for more billionaires and millionaires. Remember his quota is only 6.9mil by 2030 and citizenship criteria is strictly by income or accumulated wealth.