Greece’s doomed generation and the good fortunes of Singaporeans

May 12, 11 Greece’s doomed generation and the good fortunes of Singaporeans

Posted by in General

Read an article on The Guardian recently about ‘Greece’s doomed generation‘. It basically talks about how Greece is hit with all the Austerity measures imposed by IMF after they  hit the economic crisis in 2009/2010. Somehow, the more ‘developed’ you become as a nation, the less you are willing to give up. This seems to resonate with me in the recent Singapore GE, and this article. In the 1996-1998 asian economic crisis, the Thai, Indonesian, Vietnam, even Malaysia and Singapore got hit by a sudden crash in the currencies. Thailand and Indonesian were the worst hit. IMF imposed measures and controls on the Government then in order to rein in spending. Essentially, that means they gave the reins of the economy to an external party, who’s job is just to cut your spending. The citizens of these country then went through pain, because budgets were cut, non-essential services were restrained. Now we see the same in Greece because they have fallen hard from grace. The difference is that because of a higher education level, and that they are used to the material comforts in life, there is massive protests. I went to my favourite site, wikipedia, to look up on Greece and Singapore. It’s amazing how similar they are in terms of economy! Greece Singapore GDP $302 billion $235 bilion GDP per capita $29,240.00 $50,300.00 GDP by sector 4% agriculture 17.6% industry 78.5% services 0% agriculture 26.8% industry 73.2% services Labour force 5.05 million 3.03 million Public Debt 142.8% of GDP 117.6% of GDP Foreign Reserves $5.546 billion $187.8 billion   Their demise came out simply because of falling state revenue and increasing government expenditures. How fast the ball changes. The  Singapore GE that just ended made me wonder. We are like Greece, with no natural resources (typically), relying on a few economic engines and largely the services industry, but otherwise, essentially nothing to fall back on. I hope I would never have to see the day that Singapore falls from grace. Before 2008,...

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Benefits and problems of the Singapore GRC Parliamentary system

May 11, 11 Benefits and problems of the Singapore GRC Parliamentary system

Posted by in General

The GRC system in Singapore must be one of the most criticized point of the election system in the last many years! One of the main criticism is that it does not serve it’s primary pupose well, and it only serves the incumbent party in preventing opposition candidates from getting into Parliament. But before we judge, let’s look at the Paliamentary systems of various countries. Singapore follows a Westminister system from the British. This basically means there is an overlap of legislative and executive arm in the Government, as the ministers are typically chosen from the MPs or Members of Parliament. In simple terms, a Government typically consists of the Judicial arm which judges right and wrong, the Legislative arm which makes the laws of the land and the Executive arm, which basically consists of the Ministries and involves the running of the country. Theres also 2 main types of government, being unicameral, which means there is only 1 legislative chamber (such as Singapore), and bicameral, which typically consists of 2 chambers, being the Senate and the House of Representative. Most countries in the world would have a bicameral system, unless the country is small. In summary, Singapore has a Westminister system with a unicameral government, consisting of 87 Members of Parliament and 20 Ministers, ruling a 5 million population on a 710 km sq piece of land. Some people tend to be confused on how a MP and a Minister differ. Basically a MP, or Member of Parliament, is someone who takes care of a certain constituency in the country, bringing up issues to Parliament to debate, and voting on these issues. As a collective, they decide on the law of the land. A Minister is essentially the head of a Ministry in the civil service. They are like your CEOs and they would execute on the plans of the government.   In Malaysia they basically have a Westminister system with bicameral government of House and Senate. There are a total 70 Senators, 2 each from the...

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