A Better Life
Good evening, voters of Singapore!
Before I move on to my topic for this last rally, I would like to remind everyone about some unfinished business in this election campaign. This relates to Punggol East SMC and its merger into Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town in 2013.
On 28 August 2015, PAP candidate for Punggol East, Charles Chong, told the media that at the time that PAP handed over Punggol East SMC to the Workers’ Party, the Town Council had a surplus of $1 million. On 5 September at our rally at Punggol East, Mr Low Thia Khiang said that instead of a surplus, the statement of accounts handed over by Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council showed a deficit of $282,000 at the point of merger. The same evening, we released the relevant page of the accounts signed by their Town Council Chairman, Zainal Sapari. The next day, Mr Zainal Sapari insisted that they handed us a surplus, not of $1 million, but of $21,000.
On Sunday 6 September, PAP Organising Secretary Dr Ng Eng Hen promised that the PAP would issue a “definitive clarification” that would put on record and out of doubt what the clear financial position was. He said: “We have very good audited accounts. The facts will speak for themselves and, if Mr Low agrees on the facts, he may have to issue a correction. I hope he is gentlemanly enough to accept that he was wrong in this regard.” DPM Teo Chee Hean and then PM Lee Hsien Loong accused the Workers’ Party of selective reading, by referring only to one page of 20-something pages of audited accounts.
Yesterday, we uploaded the entire 25 page audit report on Punggol East prepared by the Pasir Ris Punggol Town Council on our Town Council website for public viewing.
Today is the last day of campaigning, 9 September. There are just 2 more hours before Cooling Off Day starts. We are still waiting for the PAP to come back on the “definitive clarification”. Which page out of the 25 pages should we look at? Where can we find the $1 million surplus that Charles Chong spoke about? Or could it be that the PAP has tried to mislead the public and damage AHPETC again? Will someone from the PAP be gentlemanly enough to tell us the facts? If the PAP have no good answers, it is not the Workers’ Party that is finished. It is the PAP that is finished. Liao! Finished!
For the final rally tonight, I want to talk about something very fundamental. I want to speak about Happiness and a Better Life. It is about the Quality of Life.
After the last General Election, my first speech in the new Parliament was about Happiness. I asked whether the government would change its direction to take into account other factors besides economic indicators to measure whether society was doing well or not. In particular, I highlighted there had been much international interest in coming up with indicators like Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness. Even at the United Nations, the Singapore government co-sponsored a resolution in 2011 that recognised that “The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal”, and that “the gross domestic product indicator, by nature, was not designed to and does not adequately reflect the happiness and well-being of people in a country.” The UN Member states were invited to come up with additional measures that better capture the importance of the pursuit of happiness and well-being in development with a view to guiding their public policies.
In Parliament, I asked whether Singapore should come up with its own direction of how we want to measure our nation’s Happiness. After all, our national pledge does clearly say that whatever we do is “so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation”.
When the PAP heard my speech on Happiness, they basically attacked it and made fun of it. One of the PAP office-holders came up to me during the break and said: “How come your speech like that?”. During the debate, there were even jokes made about Bhutan. So what’s new? This is typical PAP arrogance, to make fun of others.
The PAP seems uncomfortable with talking about Happiness. Perhaps they are more familiar with sadness, since we see Mr Lim Boon Heng and Mr Lim Swee Say crying in public ever so often!
What we need is a new compass to guide the country’s direction. Economic progress is important, but it is equally important to measure collective happiness and long-term sustainability. So what if the country’s GDP is high, if our income inequality is also high? So what if we have high GDP, but spend hours in traffic jams due to overcrowding? So what if our city has iconic casinos, but chronic gambling is inflicting misery on families? So what if there is constant urban renewal, but we have forgotten our heritage and our roots?
The other day I was at a public hospital, at the Accident and Emergency Department. I was in the large observation room where there must have been around 30 people waiting to be warded. The notice at the A&E entrance said that the wait time for a ward bed was more than 20 hours. The patients waiting to be warded included many elderly people, who could not sleep due to the constant movement around them and the bright lights that were turned on 24 hours. I saw an elderly gentleman beckon a nurse and ask: “How long more must I wait? I came here to get better, not to get worse!” Some relatives who waited with their loved ones overnight recognised me and came over. One of them asked me: “Why is the government giving away so much money at SG50, when there are more important things to spend money on?”
Clearly, somebody did not plan for an aging population. Perhaps someone was trying to save some government money, but is money everything?
Besides having economic goals, Singapore should take up the challenge of constructing a new compass to chart our country’s direction. Many countries have already started to do this. Bhutan emphasises the Preservation of Culture, Preservation of the Environment and Good Governance. The advanced economies of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) have each come up with a framework of 11 dimensions to assess the well-being of their people. These dimensions include the quality of the environment, work/life balance and civic engagement and governance. Singapore must start having with its own compass, to remind the government of the non-economic factors it must bear in mind if Singaporeans are to live happy lives. We want a Singapore not for the short term, but a Singapore that is authentic, resilient, and endures for generations to come.
Polling Day is just two days away. Reflect on how the PAP has placed economic growth at the expense of your happiness. This election, send a message to the PAP that they must place Singaporeans’ happiness at the centre of what they do. Tell the PAP that we don’t always need to be richer; we just want a better life.
Empower Your Future. Vote for the Workers’ Party!