Strong mandate

Announcing this in the party's manifesto on Saturday, PAP Secretary General and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong left no doubt the nation's unity remains a top priority as Singapore forges ahead.

* create opportunities for Singaporeans;
* give the young the best start;
* encourage every citizen to play a role;
* do more for lower income Singaporeans;
* help older Singaporeans to lead full and active lives; and
* provide affordable healthcare for all.

I buy all of the above although there is a niggling thought in my head that's asking, "Shouldn't these be what it's all about from the beginning?"

Create opportunities for Singaporeans

As a member of the minority race, I do have a beef with this but come to think of it, no where in this world is there such a thing as "equality to all" anyway. Creating opportunities is one thing but creating equal opportunities is another.

So on a personal viewpoint, I don't think much will change for the better in this area. I'll just dig out my own opportunities from the larger amount of opportunities that the PAP said it'd create.

Give the young the best start

They're already doing that. And a good job at that too but it's getting a bit old. How about letting our future generation think on their own two feet instead of spoon-feeding them all the time? Perhaps that'd lead to a Singaporean society with more common sense.

Encourage every citizen to play a role

Also a bit old. Shouldn't even be stated out. Things like this should come naturally and it leads back to the point of that whole "Singaporean society with more common sense" bit on top.

From the ground looking up, people here tend to be a little over the top with being self-centred. It's all about "me, me , me" and no one else matters.

Do more for lower income Singaporeans

It's a problem the whole world is facing - the widening rich poor gap. Looking at the background of most of the PAP politicians, I wonder if they even know how it feels to be poor.

I still see folks in their twilight years gathering scraps from the streets hoping to sell them off for a pittance. At their age, they shouldn't be doing all that.

My family and I don't fall in this bracket now but we've been there before and it'd be nice if the PAP could tweak a few of the labour and immigration laws a bit.

For a start, how about stopping giving out carrots every year in the form of ERS, NSS, PP and spreading out the money in our Reserves over time to help us folks whose incomes fall below the "rich" level.

"Rich" level in my opinion would refer to those earning $24000/annum but that's just being basic. To be more effective, we need to calculate income per household divided by the number of people living in it.

Also, we need to stop hiring foreigners in jobs that could be filled up by Singaporeans. Firstly, we need to have a miminum wage imposed. It's a chain effect thing.

For instance, if a foodcourt pays the cleaning contractor low fees every month by selecting the lowest-bidding tender, the appointed contractor have no choice but to only be able to afford low-waged workers which half the time would be foreigners.

If the government controls how low the foodcourt is allowed to pay the contractor which would be higher than the present, the contractor would then be able to afford to hire Singaporeans. Only then the unemployment rates would be much lower. The wages to the contractor's workers must also be controlled.

Of course, this must work in tandem with making it even harder for foreigners to come in. On paper, it seems that our immigration police is doing a good job but as a guy on the ground, I don't think so.

Help older Singaporeans to lead full and active lives;

The CPF must be one of the world's greatest idea. I totally agree with it in the greater scheme of things.

Without getting too detailed, senior citizens can now retire and still have some money to live on till their toes curl up.

I hear the PAP when they say they're doing stuff like making small apartments available to senior citizens. Not all old folks have families to rely on. We must leave no man behind.

Provide affordable healthcare for all

Sadly, privatisation of healthcare providers is not the way to go.

For one, hospitals should never, never be privatised. Because if so, that'd mean they're becoming businesses. They won't treat you unless you put some money down first.

That is being a hypocrite to The Hippocratic Oath.

The Medisave in our CPF accounts doesn't help either. It's still using our own money to pay for exorbitant medical and health care support.