You read this article, and you read of Singaporeans who earn S$700, S$1,120. Then what’s the problem?

The problem is they cannot make ends meet, because their wages are too low, right?

But of course this article won’t talk about it. Because the PAP doesn’t want to do anything about it. It doesn’t want to increase wages.

But what does the government want people to do?

So, you have PAP MP Rahayu Mahzam who says “there is no immediate solution, but the Government will look into these problems to see how they can be better addressed”. So, no solution.

Then, you have PAP MP Louis Ng who says it has become “more affordable” to raise children today, and PAP GRC MP Seah Kian Peng who says milk powder is also “more affordable”. By “more affordable”, he means a can of milk powder below S$30. This is affordable? But it’s OK, the more they tell you, the more you will believe it, they think.

Then, you have PAP MP Lily Neo who says Singapore’s 3M system does not deprive anyone of healthcare due to a lack of means.

Of course, what they say doesn’t make sense. How can S$30 milk powder be considered “affordable”? How is it possible people are not being deprived of healthcare, when we hear of stories of people day in, day out, who have to die because they cannot pay for their cancer treatment, or who cannot use their Medisave to pay for healthcare?

But we all know why they say all these. Why does Rahayu Mahzam say there are no immediate solutions? Because she’s not in the position to make decisions. We are not blind to the fact that there are only a few people in the PAP who makes the decisions. The rest are there to make up for the diversity, to let people think there is someone to represent them. But the real decisions are made by maybe, a handful of people. People like Shanmugam who now comments on everything because he is the expert in everything. He might as well come out with the Shanmugam journal of smart ass, since recognized academic research is thrown out the window.

Who needs research when you are running a short-term profit-making business?

Back to my point, why can’t Singaporeans make ends meet? They don’t earn enough. Simple as that. Most of the PAP MPs are powerless to make decisions because their salary depends on them bowing to the top echelons in the PAP. The PAP won’t increase wages because the largest companies in Singapore are owned by Temasek, and to earn enough profits so that Temasek has higher earnings, this depends on your wages being low.

This is the same reason why Singaporeans cannot earn enough inside their CPF to retire, because the GIC, which uses money funneled from the CPF into bonds and reserves, can only earn higher earnings when Singaporeans earn low CPF payouts.

But of course, you know all these already. But it’s OK, we should keep voting for the PAP. Because if we are too scared to change things, might as well wait for handouts from the very people who oppress us and suppress our wages.

Or maybe we can vote for change? It’s up to you, whether you feel it’s painful enough yet. If not, it’s OK to suffer a bit more. It’s only been 60 years under the PAP. What’s another 100 years?

Roy Ngerng