As part of their 4Y1N campaign, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has proposed a retirement income to help the elderly cope and to ease the financial burden on their working children.
In a post on their website yesterday (May 11), the party said that the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic has “made even more obvious the problems faced by our elderly and retirees and, by extension, the financial burden placed on the younger working generations”.
They added that poverty among the elderly in Singapore is significant, and attributed it to the incumbent People’s Action Party (PAP) “depriving our retirees of their CPF savings”.
The allegation is that “poverty among retirees is the result not so much through profligate spending or the negligence in financial planning but rather through the state siphoning off these funds”.
The SDP also wrote that children and relatives of the elderly often have to provide financial support for them. They added that the 2019 Household Expenditure Survey found that the working children of retiree households contribute nearly S$500 per month towards their income.
“This contrasts with the average CPF payout of only $280 a month”, they wrote.
As part of their campaign, the party therefore proposed the Retirement Income Scheme for the Elderly (RISE).
They suggested that Singapore citizens 65 and older who are in the bottom 80 percent of wage earners, should be guaranteed a basic income of S$500 a month.
They explain that the three main advantages of RISE are that firstly, the income of Singaporean retirees is guaranteed and stable. Secondly, as cash, it is paid to all poorer retirees unlike the PG and MG packages which are given only to certain cohorts of Singaporeans. Lastly, the party adds that RISE will relieve working Singaporeans of the pressure from having to financially support their elderly parents.
The SDP wrote that RISE is part of their 4Y1N campaign: Four ‘YES’ to suspension of GST, retrenchment benefits, retirement income, putting people first and one ‘NO’ to a 10 million population. It is also part of their campaign message in the coming GE. /TISG