Discussion Forum

Dear Heng Swee Kiat, please shut down casinos -  "national conversation" on future.

Dear Heng Swee Kiat, reduce foreigners to 700K - "national conversation" on future and reduce PRs to 200K.

Nobody going to believe this PR exercise until foreigners are reduce to 700K and PRs to 200K.

Shut down all gambling activities like betting stations and casinos

What are some of Singapore's Future Challenges?
1. Economic stability
2. Inclusive society
3. Celebrating diversity

I once wrote an email to MCYS about marriage, parenthood and childcare issues.  The officer said it will take them some time to respond to my email because I covered a large range of issues across many ministries - Hello!  Wake up - in today's landscape, everyone's talking about cross ministry, inter-disciplinary....

Anyway... I leave item no. 1 to the government.  Let me (AGAIN!!) give my 2 cents worth about building an inclusive society.  PM Lee wants to build an inclusive society, focus on heartware, blah blah blah.....  MCYS wants it, and they are even restructuring the cabinet to pay more attention to this.  However... MOE, from P3, train us how not to be inclusive.  We go through streaming and continue to live in this protected capsule with people within the same IQ range, and in many schools, people with parents within similar income brackets.  

Through various lessons, competitions, and projects, we are carefully groomed into the concept of competition, staying ahead, and the misconception that the world evolves around us.  Parents put so much effort into our tuition, enrichment classes, etc. Some of us are so sure about ourselves, we think PAP surely owes us a university education, too!  Please, don't blame us - we were groomed to think that way.

So, this is how generations after generations of us that were streamed from P3 thinks.  No, we do not know that the guy in normal stream has talent - we only know what he has not - IQ.  And those that didn't go for overseas programmes have no money.  To us, life is all about being on top and staying on top.  Money and influence. 

And then, when we are all working adults, you expect us to be concerned about issues such as low wage workers?  Oh, and building that eldercare centre in my backyard?  No way!  Pregnant colleagues?  OMG!  What?  Have a family???  (mentally calculates the P&L)...

Instead of putting so much money into trying to brainwash the adults, why not we start them young and relook into our education system?  Which part of it advocates inclusive society, if we stream them at P3?  If children as young as P1 needs tuition, how does that leave them time to run at the tracks, or pick up that bat, or ball, or racket?  Then we get all this thing about "WORK LIFE BALANCE"... how to balance, if from young we are already so single-minded on academic?  And then, people forget that teachers are people, too!  They also need work life balance, have a family, etc.

Mr Heng, I hope you will try to do something about the education policies....

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This is a step in the right direction.

I would also suggest that the Government agencies coordinate their efforts and policies more than was done in the previous few years. If they did, we might have been able to cope better with the recent changes. This is not China or US or India. Surely the Government agencies can communicate with each other to ensure policies move in the same direction and at similar pace.

National Conversation talk , when is it,where is it and how many days/months do the new ministries want talk. I still want to hear about economics,social issues .
PLEASE BROADCAST YOUR INFO to all media resources (eg.Tv,radio,Facebook,websites) so that ALL SINGAPOREAN CAN REACH YOU.

After the conversation, pls announce your action through new and old media.
Provide reasons,statisitics for your action.

Thank You

Apart from poorly coordinated and executed immigration and infrastructure policies, there are other policies which are making things harder for Singaporeans. The creeping commercialization of public goods and services over the past decade and half should never have started in the first place and needs to be rolled back. It was and is unacceptable for the Government to profit from activities for which citizens have already paid taxes.

Is National Service issue in your agenda?

Currently , for NSmen there are 10 ICT, mindef website state "minimum 7 High key and 3 low".
However, NSmen can be called up to max of 10 High key with no low key. Now, it depend on your vocations/units prefrence to do that.

If standardising the number of high key and low key ICT is possible, eg 8 High key and 2 low key ICT.
With the low key ICT, lesser days will be needed and less disruption for NSMen who can more time to manage other issues.

This suggestion only give citizens to treated fairly on NS policy regardless of vocations/units.

Can Singaporeans remember GCT's Singapore 21? Many thousands happily participated. Where is it now?

"How can we further our engagement efforts to develop a better understanding of policy issues and build a consensus on Singapore’s challenges and future?"

Use REACH. Reach is a good forum to offer feedback, and it is well run, but the feedback given depends on how general the questions Reach decides to ask. Reach could consider setting up a featured topic for the week.

Award govt and GKC projects to local SMEs .. if the govt is serious about promoting the SMEs .. then award projects to thse SMEs so that they can grow and prosper ...

1 challenge for the future 2012-2022 is the huge generation gap- between current over 45's and under 25's in technical knowledge and bridging the chasm.

The older gen are proud to learn from the youngsters, and our youth are too impatient to teach the old from scratch.

The retrenched workers are growing from the older aged group leaving the workforce gates open.

How shall we address this immobile disparity?

This is a right move.  

Keep it up!

What is the timeline?

Please accord the Death sentence on Litterbugs! (I'm serious).

Hi, I'm deeply concerned that not having young Singaporens to replace and support old Singaporeans like me in the future is a big issue.  But, with all due respect, Mr Heng, the ministry you're the boss at seem to be the source of culprit for this woe.

I wrote some time ago that not all ministries share the same passion to support the pro-family policies that our top leaders, such as both Sr and Jr Lees, are displaying great concern over.  If MOE can't educate its own high-ranking staff to do right on pro-family, how to for the rest of the "non-values-concerned" ministries like MAS or National Parks?  How to for the private sector bosses who pay pregnant women out of their own pockets when school principals who are not even paymasters are too concerned about being competitive?

Now, there's this "Cross-Ministry" effort?? Then, start with education.  Give MOE a proper education about correct values that people should be cultured with that will last them for eternity.

Too tired to say more.  You can look at this article I wrote to Straits Times and MOE after reading about NTUC proposing 6 months paid maternity leave.  Feel free to comment or add if you know of similar cases of civil servants who are anti-national policy.  

I hope "Cross-Ministry" not equal ministry A cover ministry B's backside for the damage the other has done

Subject: 6 months paid leave for mums? Not even 6 days childcare leave at MOE

Dear ST,
 
I know about the story on the forum below.  It's true.  If the government, even schools where they should be talking of values, put $ and principal's bonus above staff welfare, there's no way women going to get 6 months paid leave.  Not in a hundred years, global climate gets only more competitive.  I experienced it before. 

My niece's principal tells her school's staffs that singapore schools don't have the luxury to allow teachers to have 6-days childcare leave that PM Lee called for, because teachers already have school holidays.  As a result, I look after her son when he's sick because I'm a retiree, not her.  She tells me based on policy, she doesn't even need to show an MC for childcare, but her principal tells them to seek her permission privately before they apply.  If not, she doesn't approve.  Check it out, ST. I heard of cases of pressure-induced miscarriages too at other schools, it's such a shame.
 
If lee lip hong is guilty for a personl life fraud, and peter lim for corporate fraud, then violations like these on national policies, by national agencies, is a more severe form of corruption and fraud.  Don't know other ministries, but at least at moe, many principals are definitely clamping down on national birth rate.  School ranking the culprit?  Principals are getting immoral because their bosses at moe are not sure what Education is about.  Fire the principals' bosses for leading to be kiasu too.

If government ministries like that, schools some more, what else you expect private sector or self-employed bosses to be open to "pro-family"?  The government can't even get those on its paylist to cooperate, how to?
 
Do something, ST.  You keep reporting on sensational news people like Lee Lip Hong and the law professor?  The damage they do is peanuts compared to these black sheeps.  One miscarriage is one life lost.  So, ST, don't go keep harping on tabloid news just for the money.  No social responsibility.

Regards.

 
Read on:
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/6-months-paid-leave-mum-article-sunday-times-3825628.html
 
sorry, moe also dun encourage giving birth hor
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hey man, u got it all wrong. i heard in northspring primary in rivervale, a teacher got warned for getting pregnant AT THE WRONG TIME. the bosses ask her why she transfer in at start of yr, get pregnant fast, and need give birth before dec holidays even come. like she transfer to the sch to have easier time to have babies like that. heard she had to finish all the work given to her for the year, before she allowed to go on early maternity leave. and told not to take childcare leave for her already born child, as she's already gonna get free leave she goes for delivery. oh gosh. this is not just a sch, but non bukit timah or central area school! the principal dun even pay the teacher from own pocket, and already so ks about performance. so u trust mom, moe or ntuc abt encouraging birth? u'll only see pr-babies in 10 yrs, no more singapore singaporea babies.

As the Committee will be made up of "younger" min isters .. hope thew committee will be myopic and look at the wishes of the young .. the OLD need to be taken care of more .. these OLD will b emade up at least one third of the population .. these OLDIES built up Singapore to where Singapore is now .. these OLDIES should be be sidelined ande left to "die" by the roadside

While I agree that we should maintain a business friendly environment, I also think that the authorities need to take a more hands on approach when it comes to how business do business in Singapore.

Here are some instances:

1) it is not as easy to find public pay phones these days. Having a phone has become more of a must. As such, mobile phone price plans at the most basic level should be monitored to ensure that it is keep low regardless of the take up rate;

2) watching sports becoming more and more costly. Authorities should step in and ensure that general sporting channels like ESPN are not packaged together with premium sports products like the english premier league (EPL). Products like the EPL are sold separately as a product, so that the cost does not affect those who want to watch other sports;

3) in a recent television advertisement, a company used children to sell financial planning. While there is nothing wrong with it, moral and ethically questions should be asked whether it is appropriate.

Businesses are given many freedoms in terms of how they run their businesses, but there has been issues that have come up due to their lack of ability to self regulate like the hiring of foreign workers. More needs to be done to ensure the businesses do businesses in proper manner and consumer rights are looked after pro-actively rather than reactively.
 

Please rid the scourge of littering once and for all.

Please make the fine $1500 minimum.

Please allow citizens to make citizens arrests, so that anyone can be a witness, and the culprits when caught and fined, the citizens can pocket $1000 from the $1500 fine.

It will be a double edge sword.

It will enrich any Singapore citizen and it will reduce the scourge of litter and litterbugs!

The NEA and this Government of this day is not doing a "fine" job!