Singapore’s PAP government is gambling that unrestrained economic growth can outpace the rising cost of living. Its policy is thus to subsidise incomes in the short term while waiting for prices to stabilise. But this strategy rests on flawed assumptions, exacerbated by its questionable calculation of the Consumer Price Index, creating a self-reinforcing blind spot.
Tag: Economy
Posted inFeature
Cambodia’s At-Risk Construction Workers Raise Families On-Site
Cambodian construction workers and their families often live inside the buildings they are constructing, despite dozens being killed in building collapses in recent years. Few labour protections and low pay leave them vulnerable to accidents and exploitation.
Posted inPodcast
Understanding Singapore’s Foreign Reserves
Leong Mun Wai, a Non-constituency Member of Parliament for the Progress Singapore Party speaks to PJ Thum about Singapore’s financial reserves. They also talk about the need for increased transparency and accountability, especially in light of the recent MAS (Amendment) Bill.
Posted inOpinion
To Save a Dying Lake, Mekong Nations Must Act as One
Mekong nations must act collectively to preserve Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, its fisheries and the livelihoods that depend on them. If not, human-made problems of illegal fishing, hydropower dams and climate change will spell disaster for millions.
Posted inPodcast
Why Some Malaysian Teachers Are Paying for Students’ Mobile Data
On this episode, Dayana Mustak speaks to Mazliza Mahmood, a teacher, and Chan Soon Seng, CEO of Teach for Malaysia. They talk about the educational alternatives available when a pandemic means in-person learning could put lives at risk and what help has been given to support students in need during this time.
Posted inVideo
Singapore’s Dependence on Foreign Funding and our Economic Quandary
PJ explains how Singapore’s economy has evolved over time, how it is heavily dependent on foreign funding, and how the PAP tried to wean Singapore off foreign funding and failed miserably, leading to Singapore’s current economic quandary.
Posted inVideo
How the PAP Government Abuses “Rule of Law” to Control Singapore
PJ explains how the People’s Action Party in Singapore uses/abuses the concept of the “Rule of Law” to control all forms of political activity, by criminalising all behaviour but selectively investigating, harassing, and charging only its critics and opponents. Also, he tries to sell you some cologne.
Posted inVideo
How the PAP Nanny State creates Dependence and Controls Citizens
Historian Thum Ping Tjin (“PJ”) explains how the People’s Action Party in Singapore, through purposeful social design since the 1960s, has created a system through which the state is able to intimately interfere in peoples lives and create public dependence on the state; and how this dependence on the state then makes people afraid to speak up or oppose the government.
Posted inPodcast
Political Agenda — Representation, Inequality and Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians opened in the US a week-and-a-half ago and was welcomed as a milestone, a “moment” and a win for representation. But how does it portray Singapore, in which the story is set? We sit down with Ruby Thiagarajan of Mynah Magazine, Aisyah Amir of The Local Rebel and Yale-NUS undergraduate Faris Joraimi to talk about representation, inequality and Crazy Rich Asians from a Singaporean perspective.