'A patch, not a permanent solution': Jamus Lim calls for better long-term support for Singaporeans

SINGAPORE: In a social media post on Friday (Nov 13), Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Jamus Lim wrote about his most recent house visits at Anchorvale, the ward he’s been representing since 2020, which is something he regularly does. 

In particular, he addressed two challenges related to the passage of time: ageing infrastructure and individuals getting older, since Assoc Prof Lim’s latest house visits took him from one of the newest areas in Sengkang to one of the older ones.

Regarding infrastructure, as the years go on, the need for maintenance and upkeep grows as well. There were repair and redecoration (R&R) works that were completed relatively recently, and a complete replacement of the elevators in the cluster is also in the pipeline, scheduled to begin in the first half of 2027.

The MP added that the elevators had a breakdown frequency that was “unacceptably high” in spite of efforts from the Town Council toward enhancement, which explains why the entire system needed a total overhaul.

As for ageing in general, Assoc Prof Lim wrote that conversations with residents in the older cluster revolved around healthcare affordability, age-related job discrimination, and retirement adequacy.

“One major challenge has been coping with higher costs of living, even while CPF payouts haven’t kept pace with rising prices. The vouchers and cash support invariably help, but everyone recognises that this is a patch, rather than a permanent solution,” he noted.

The MP went on to list what the WP has called for in order to bolster retirement funds that remain fixed even as costs go up, such as pegging CPF returns more closely to inflation rather than major banks’ interest rates, “as well as making more of the risk spread—currently enjoyed by our sovereign wealth funds for their management of CPF-collateralized SSGS—available to CPF account holders.”

He noted that the issue of how to cope with longer retirements will become a more important issue in Singapore as the population grows older, and added that the Workers’ Party will “continue to push for evidence-based policies to ease that transition.” /TISG

Read also: WP’s Jamus Lim resumes meet-ups with residents after hospitalisation, says lungs may take months to recover