Presidential Election – Why I Choose Dr Tony Tan

Citizens of Singapore waited for a prolong 12 years to have a chance to elect their President. In the past two Presidential Elections, we were given a “one-too-few” eligible candidate for voting to take place. This round, we have four eligible candidates. Some may regard this as “two-too-many” situation. For me, I would say – the more, the merrier. It tells me two things: 1, more well qualified citizens are keen to take part in politics, which is highly needed for a small country like ours. 2, it means more choices for voters - you can choose the best among the four.

Actually, I like all of them. They are all well qualified and have the heart to serve the country and help its people. It is painful to let go of some I really like.

Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr. Tan Kin Lian are ideal for President post. Dr Tan has a heart very close to glass-root. Read his blog, hear him speak, you can tell his sincerity. There is no doubt he will put citizens’ interest above his formal party. Mr. Tan Kin Lian has excellent track records managing big organization with huge investments. He has workable plans to help the people. His strong Chinese language and his humble background will help him in understanding and helping the hard-Landers.

I felt that Mr. Tan Jee Say would be ideal to be in a governing team. PAP is trying hard to make changes to re-gain support from the people, but we cannot be sure they will succeed. Opposition has to work harder to form an alternate government team. Tan Jee Say’s present in opposition will enhance the chance of forming the alternate team. This is important. The real crisis will happen if citizens decided to give up on PAP and there is no capable enough opposition team to take over the government. Thus, I hope he keep himself in the opposition camp. Besides, I have concern if he will work well with the PAP government if elected. He would likely make the government nervous. It will be more difficult for him to accomplish his duties without co-operations from the government.

If Dr Tony Tan is not in the picture, I will be happy to have either Dr Tan Cheng Bock or Mr. Tan Kin Lian to be our President. Dr Tony Tan has the capacity bigger than what President’s duties required. I believe if he did not see the real need he would rather sit back and relax, than to join in the competition.

I choose Dr Tony Tan based on following key reasons:

1. For the stability of the country.

           After PAP reformed, our country is governed by a much younger and less experience team, without MM Lee and SM Goh watching them. On one hand, it is good for PM and his team to have the free hand on the steering wheel to make changes. However, on the other hand, it also imposes some risk. The young government team has to resolve many issues surfaced in the GE, besides, they have to deal with tough challenges ahead. Challenges faced can be in all aspects, not just internally but also externally, especially when they just lost a capable Foreign Affair Minister. In times of crisis and needs, Dr Tony Tan can be there to give helpful ideas and guidance. A capable and experience politician President such as him will help stabilize the country and resolve critical issues in time of needs, even he is not part of the government team.

2. Unforeseen future political development needs

           This President we elect will still be in office when we have our next General Election. We cannot foresee what will happen then. If performance of current PAP government do not meet people’s expectation, chances are – people choose to let the opposition take over. Imagine, if the country take over by a new team without experience? Alternatively, we can be in a stage of difficulty forming government if no party winning majority votes. In such situation, President may find himself have to play a vital governing role for a while. We never know.

Proposal 1: A Way To Improve Citizen's Employment

The Current Issue:
Many local citizens loss their jobs from Private Sector, from professionals, managerial and executive positions and ended up driving taxis or become self-employed. Corporate employers prefer Foreign Talents (FT) than the local citizen not merely because FTs have the skills set they need, but more importantly - they are cheaper.


We know the key objective of a company is to make profit. To maximize profit they will strive to maximize their revenue and at the same time minimize their cost, including labour cost. Naturally, cheaper FTs will become more attractive than the local talents. This explains why citizens, even with the right skill sets and experiences, still loss their jobs to the foreigners. When they reach middle age, with incomes raised to higher level, companies are more likely to replace them with cheaper FTs during “Re-organization”. At that age, it is even more difficult for them to compete with FTs to find new jobs. Many ended up driving taxis to make a living.


The Cost of Living and Standard of Living in Singapore is a lot higher than many other Asia countries. The local citizens need higher income to sustain their living. It is not fair for them to compete with talents from less developed countries with the same price tag.




Propose Policy: Tie Corporate Tax Rate with Proportion of Citizen's Employment 


Approach:
As Profit Maximization is the main objective in Business, this approach is to tie the citizen's employment rate with the Profitability of the business. If companies find that hiring too many Foreign Talents will hamper their profit instead of improving it, they will turn around to hire more citizens.


Our current Corporate Tax Rate is cap at 17% (if I'm not wrong).


Propose Changes:


Apply to all companies which total staff strength of Executives + Managerial not less than 50 persons.


- If employment of Citizens in this Category is 90% or more, give 10% discount to their Corporate Tax. That means if they are currently paying 17% tax, after change, they pay only 7%.


- If employment of Citizens in this Category is 30% or less but greater than 10%, add 10% to their tax. That means if they are currently paying 17% tax, after change, they have to pay 27%.


- If employment of Citizens in this Category is 10% or less, add 20% to their tax. That means if they are currently paying 17% tax, after change, they have to pay 37%.






The advantages:


- This change encourages companies to employ more citizens for those positions which are more desirable. We should train our citizens to help them to attain to executive level and above.
- Companies setup in Singapore, part of their responsibilities is to help us to improve our employment. This change punishes those companies which do not assume this responsibility while encourages those fulfill the responsibility.
- Companies will not be cornered by quota. They are free to decide how many foreign talents they want to employ and they have free timeline to make the adjustment. If they really cannot find enough citizens with the right skills set they can continue to hire foreigners. We will know what skills set is in high demand and train more citizens to meet the needs.
- Local citizens will still need to work hard and remain relevant for the jobs. Their contributions to the companies will still be the main consideration for the jobs.
- If companies decide to move out of Singapore because of this measure, let them go. It would not hamper our employment anyway.
- We do not need to inject money for this measure. It is self-balancing in budget, or might even generate some surplus.




* The above Rates and employment Ratios is to be reviewed and adjusted from time to time to suit our employment condition and the business needs.