Blogger Roy Ngerng, who is currently involved in a defamatory lawsuit with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was the last speaker at the protest event. He said it is known that 85% of all Singaporeans are not able to meet the CPF Minimum Sum in cash, and asked what is the CPF Minimum Sum is for. He gave five points on what he thought the solution for the CPF should be: (1) Wages growth so that CPF will grow. (2) Increase the CPF interest rates so that CPF will grow. (3) Complete honesty with Singaporeans about what the government is doing with the CPF funds in GIC and Temasek Holdings, today and before. (4) Give Singaporeans the choice to decide when they want to take out their CPF. (5) Let an independent board manage the CPF, with transparency and accountability. An elderly couple at the protest, both in their 60′s shared that while they are not affected by the CPF issues, felt it was important to turn up for the event to support Ngerng, as they find what he is doing to be very relevant and constructive. While they only got to know about the event at 3pm via TR Emertius, the wife got the husband to bring her down to Hong Lim Park. Mr Toh, in his 40′s and still contributing to CPF, agrees that more transparency is needed with the CPF scheme. He also said that the Minimum Sum is unreasonable and felt that CPF members should be given a choice to continue investing their money with the CPF board or to simply retrieve the money as a lump sum. Mr Toh said that he found it an insult that the government thinks a 55 year-old cannot take care of his own money. Another gentlemen in his 40′s said that it was unfair for the government to be moving the “goal posts” for the Minimum Sum as well as changing the terms of contract, such as moving the draw-down age from 62 to 65. He also felt that people should be given the option to opt into the new scheme with the changes. Mr Lim, in his 20′s, said that the CPF scheme seems unfair given that there are so many people there at the protest, and this signals that there is an issue with the system. He said that more people are actively participating in such events in Singapore, which makes the country much more democratic.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 06:40:11 +0000
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