Remembering Dr Toh Chin Chye - 1921 to 2012

Singapore lost one of its founding fathers Dr Toh Chin Chye in February 2012. On the flipside though, Singaporeans now have another opportunity to be familiar with another of our founding fathers just as we had been educated of Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr S. Rajaratnam , Mr Lim Kim San and Madam Kwa Geok Choo after their passing.

Like many of us who have not personally known Dr Toh, we have all been reading about his humble beginnings, principles in life, admirable personality, the sacrifices he made with the various roles he played and his active contributions as a vocal backbencher, which immensely benefited Singapore.

Tributes for Dr Toh poured in from all walks of life. These tributes are testimony of Dr Toh’s invaluable contribution to Singapore’s strong foundation as a young, dynamic and successful nation. The tributes in particular, have brought many of us down the lanes of Singapore’s history and is an eye-opener on how fortunate we are to be the beneficiaries of Dr Toh’s selfless effort.

As with several of our founding generation, Dr Toh also played pivotal roles in the various ministries and was a pillar of support in many of the crucial political decisions and visions made for Singapore. Not surprisingly, Dr Toh was also the founding chairman of the People’s Action Party and it has been quoted that if the lightning in the PAP symbol represented Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the white background referred to Dr Toh Chin Chye with both founding fathers associated to action and purity respectively.

Dr Toh helped to see the party and Singapore through the political turbulence of the 1950s and 1960s in addition to helping the PAP see through the internal struggles between the pro-communist and non-communist members. Dr Toh’s demise is a loss to PAP.  The baton passed by him and all of PAP’s founding fathers has to be carried forward amidst a different set of challenges, political and economic environment to bring Singapore to a much greater height and a brighter place for our increasing population and global hub status.

While a vast majority of PAP members have not had the opportunity to work with and be guided by Dr Toh, his belief in collective leadership and experience in leading the Party as well as our Nation would be important in shaping our reflection and plans on how we intend to move forward in this fast paced era with a touch of humility and concern for all Singaporeans. As for the younger generation, awareness of our rich past and strong leadership would lead one and all to a better future and unity.

An article by a YP Activist

The question is not; “will I?” rather it is “when will I own the roof over my head”?  One of the matters closest to the hearts of Singaporeans in this year is the cost of housing. Certainly, HDB prices are nowhere near what they used to be.

Party Chairman and Minister for National Development stated that the government was now looking to focus its efforts on securing homes for second time buyers for the next year or two. Currently, schemes and grants do exist for the lower income groups to ease the burden of purchasing houses.

One example of which is the HOPE scheme where a grant of $50,000 is provided to a lower income family to purchase a flat.

While there is certainly a need for the government to address this issue, we must never forget that a house is the only asset many common Singaporeans have. We must do our part in ensuring that it remains in our hands and not squandered in a misadventure.

An article by a YP Activist

According to Mercer, Singapore is the 8th most expensive place to live in the world. Every year the cost of living increases – that is a dynamic of society and economics, one that can never be changed no matter what a government does. This is because of a concept known as inflation, in layman’s terms it’s how the purchasing power of money decreases over time because of increased circulation of a currency.

This is a problem that Singapore and many nations in the developed world face. Perhaps we feel the squeeze of this problem more than the Americans and Europeans do, simply because all our goods are imported. A vast majority of our food supply is imported from neighboring countries in the region, because of this, it is harder for the government to regulate the prices of this goods.

The pro-welfare groups of Singaporeans will call for increased spending ; a subsidy for the lower income groups! Put a price ceiling on rice! Let us not forget for one moment – the government cannot give what it does not first take. Certainly, the government can take from two places, the reserves or increased taxes on the people.

Let’s face it, our savings are finite, the problem may span infinitely, should we deplete our wealth on this problem or find another way to deal with it? Should the government tax the people to solve this issue then, bearing in mind the amount of unhappiness increased transport and GST costs have created, a tax to fund subsidises out of the question and superfluous by nature.

What the government can do is what it has always done, provide jobs for the people and leave the rest up to society. The higher income groups will have to contribute more to aid the rest of society along, for that translate to a more caring and giving society that we hope our Singapore will be.

The new salaries are based on the committee’s recommendation to benchmark the MR4 Minister’s salary to the median income of the top 1,000 earners who are Singapore citizens and with a 40% discount to signify the ethos and sacrifice that comes with political service. This benchmark is based on a larger pool that does not specify occupations and covers only Singapore Citizens, the pool of talent that our political leaders will be drawn from.

We hear the Government’s belief in us young Singaporeans, and we call for more youth collaboration. We are glad to hear the message, that you are listening to our heartfelt call for change. We all want it to happen, so that transformation goes beyond the National Day Rally and its video clips, and brings us all into a brighter tomorrow.