Tan Kin Lian: PM Lee used colourful charts and PowerPoints in past rallies as well. They did not solve the problems then.

Following Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally held on Sunday (August 18), former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian shared some of his thoughts.

During the rally, PM Lee Hsien Loong announced a slew of changes to education and retirement policies.

On the overall rally, Mr Tan, a former Chief Executive Officer of NTUC Income said, “PM Lee used colourful charts and PowerPoints in past rallies as well. They did not solve the problems then”.

Separately, Mr Tan also said yesterday, “Instead of addressing the real challenges, LHL find way to win more votes”.

One part of PM Lee’s National Day Rally addressed the issue of climate change. Many were surprised that he chose to focus on this issue, with Chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party Paul Tambyah calling it “a perplexing segment”.

Mr Tan however, said, “I agree that we need to deal with climate change. I am not sure if we need to spend $100 billion to achieve this goal”.

“What I know is that we have another goal that is more urgent and more immediate. We need to bring down our cost of living. We can bring it down by more than 7%, if we abolish our GST immediately”, he added.

In his rally, PM Lee announced that Singapore’s official retirement age will be gradually raised to 65. In addition, CPF contribution rates will be gradually raised for workers aged 55 and above. This will start as soon as 2021 and will take about 10 years to fully implement.

PM Lee did not provide details on the specific increase in contributions, but said CPF contributions for workers were currently tapering down after 55, and the Government was looking to increase this age to 60.

To this, Mr Tan commented, “Our CPF contribution rate continues to get more and more complex. This will increase the cost of administration and the cost of doing business. Poor SME employers”. -/TISG