SINGAPORE: In his National Day Message for this year, opposition party Red Dot United’s Secretary-General Ravi Philemon tackled rising living costs and made the appeal for Singapore to be more liveable for everyone.
Mr Philemon delivered his message amid a walkabout at the Chong Pang neighbourhood at Nee Soon GRC, beginning by asking if people had already received their $850 GSTV payout, and whether this amount had been saved or spent.
“Today, a lot of Singaporeans are struggling with their cost of living expenses,” the RDU chief noted, pointing out that there will be an additional cost will be added to bottled and canned drinks. The scheme was first announced in March 2023, with the 10-cent deposit to be refunded to consumers when they return the bottles and cans for recycling. Originally planned for April 2025, the Beverage Container Return scheme has since been pushed to April 2026.
However, Mr Philemon pointed out that each additional cost—no matter how small—is an added weight to Singaporeans, who also pay 5 cents more for plastic bags when they do their grocery shopping.
“To a lot of people, 20 cents and 10 cents may not be a lot, but for Singaporeans who are struggling with cost of living expenses… it adds up. Which is why when the coffee that we drink goes up by 10 cents more, we feel the pain,” he said, adding that water, electricity, and transport costs have also gone up of late.
He not only asked if multiple rising costs are fair to Singaporeans but also whether this is the kind of society people want to build. Instead of Singaporeans bearing the burden of extra costs to offset carbon emissions, the RDU chief made the case for multinational companies, which are heavier polluters, to do so instead.
Mr Philemon then brought up Singapore’s record low birth rate, saying that if conditions were “fixed” and the city-state was to be made more livable, the fertility rate would rise.
He also touched on the issue of foreign workers, saying that what Singaporeans are unhappy with is not competition but “unfair competition” that causes depressed wages and fewer opportunities for locals.
In a Facebook post, he wrote that his wish for this year’s National Day “is for Singapore to remain united. In a world that is growing more polarised, achieving unity will require a concerted effort to ensure fairness and improve liveability for everyone in Singapore.” /TISG
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