I used to support the opposition…

Summary

Highlights

• Singapore's general election discussion merges with personal finance insights. 🇸🇬
• Personal journey from opposition volunteering to supporting the incumbent party. 🤝
• GST criticism challenged, stressing its progressive nature and benefit balance. 💡
• Housing affordability in Singapore isn't as dire compared to global cities, thanks to strategic policies. 🏠
• Potential political shift seen as a risk to long-term planning and stability. 🚥

Key Takeaways

• Politics and finance are interconnected, impacting personal financial health and policy effectiveness. 💼
• Personal experiences can shift political perspectives, from opposition support to understanding government actions. 🔄
• Singapore's GST system, often criticized, is designed to be progressive despite common misconceptions. 📈
• Medisave shows the foresight of policies, offering affordable healthcare solutions. ❤️
• Concerns about political shifts towards mediocrity and losing key policy advantages in the long term. 🚦

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Personal Background The speaker, who usually discusses personal finance topics, decides to address the upcoming general election, emphasizing its potential impact on personal finance. They clarify that their discussion is not financial or electoral advice but simply personal thoughts shared as a Singaporean voter. The speaker also invites listeners interested in personal finance updates to check their Telegram channel, as this discussion is focused on the election. They touch on the intersection of personal finance and politics.
• 01:00 - 02:30: Pro-Opposition Background and Political Awakening The chapter "Pro-Opposition Background and Political Awakening" discusses the interconnectedness of personal finance and politics. It emphasizes that both areas significantly impact our lives—personal finance on an individual level and politics on a broader scale. The discussion highlights the importance of having competent people and sound policies in government to facilitate individuals in achieving their personal goals more efficiently. The chapter concludes with a call to action, urging people to vote wisely in the upcoming Saturday election.
• 02:30 - 05:00: Shift in Ideology and Reflection on Government Policies The chapter titled 'Shift in Ideology and Reflection on Government Policies' discusses a significant change in personal political beliefs and involvement. The narrator, who was once a staunch supporter of a particular political position, shares their experience volunteering with the Workers' Party (WP) in 2011. As a polling agent, their role was to oversee the electoral process to ensure its fairness and integrity. The narrative reflects on a pivotal moment when the speaker witnessed Joshua's appeal to young voters, promising to represent their voices in parliament. This chapter explores the narrator's journey and ideological transformation amid political participation.
• 05:00 - 08:30: Discussion on Taxation and GST Critique The chapter discusses a personal experience shared by a young individual involved in politics, recounting a time when they were volunteering for the Workers' Party at the age of 22. This individual describes an encounter with a person named George at a booth, who appeared surprised to see someone so young taking part in political activities. The chapter reflects on the importance of young voters in influencing election outcomes.
• 08:30 - 12:00: Housing Affordability in Singapore This chapter discusses the significant political event in Singapore where the Workers' Party won a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) for the first time, defeating George and his team. This marked a notable shift in Singapore's political landscape, fostering political engagement and volunteerism among citizens. The narrator shares personal experiences as a polling agent and volunteer during the 2013 Punggol East by-election, highlighting the excitement and engagement in the political scene. The chapter captures the narrator's political awakening during this period of political change.
• 12:00 - 15:00: Conclusion and Concerns for Singapore's Future The chapter 'Conclusion and Concerns for Singapore's Future' explores the author's shift in political ideology over time. Initially, values upheld by the opposition such as checks and balances, fairness, and the transition to a first-world parliament were of high importance. However, as the author matures, these priorities diminish in significance, prompting a reflection on changing personal priorities and the future of Singapore's governance.

I used to support the opposition… Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Today I want to talk about what else the general election and I know this is a personal finance channel but you know this is something that happens once every five years and invariably will affect our personal finance one way or another. So I just thought that I would want to share my thoughts on it and this is not financial advice. This is not electoral advice. It's just me talking as a Singaporean who's going to vote in upcoming election and yeah I just want to share my thoughts. Now if you want personal finance updates in state right check out my telegram because this is going to be on the general election and my thoughts about it. I think personal finance and politics are things that
• 00:30 - 01:00 affect our lives in some way or another and they are very very linked together even though it may not seem immediately obvious right I think personal finance is something that's very micro very individual whereas uh politics affect our lives on a more micro basis yeah and I think you know having good people in government having good policies also help us achieve our individual goals much uh easier and faster so uh yeah like most people will tell you right it's time to vote wisely ly this Saturday. Uh yeah, but maybe to share a
• 01:00 - 01:30 little bit of my background, right? I actually used to be a very propposition person as you might know from the title and thumbnail already. Uh I volunteered with WP in 2011 when they won our unit. I was a polling agent back then. Uh polling agent is supposed to observe the electoral process and to make sure that there's no funny business going on. I remember the day I was on duty. Uh you know, it was I think a couple of days after Joshua make this video trying to appeal to young voters. uh that he will be their voice in parliament and at that
• 01:30 - 02:00 time I was like what 22 years of age and yeah I look a lot younger then than I do now and I think George was at the booth and he saw me and he did a double take and I will never forget that kind of expression that he wore on his face my personal interpretation of it and I don't know whether it's true or not it was that he was a bit taken aback that someone as young as me was volunteering for WP and yeah especially after I guess He identified that young voters were was going to swing the election for him. Uh
• 02:00 - 02:30 yeah, then of course we know what happened. Uh George and his team lost. Workers party won a GRC for the first time. After that, I actually volunteered for 2013 uh Pongo East by election as well. Uh I was polling agent as well as uh I I helped them go doortodoor to talk to residents. Uh yeah, so those were very interesting experiences. Uh we got to uh take photos with the WPMPPS at the appreciation dinner after. Uh yeah, so that was really what my um I think political awakening was at that time.
• 02:30 - 03:00 Attended rallies and all with my friend and over the years I've noticed a shift in my ideology. The way I see I think when I was younger things that the opposition stood for were a lot higher on my priority list. You know things like having checks and balances uh having a fair system, having a coal driver and you know moving towards a first world parliament. But as I grew older, I realized that those things steadily decline on my list of priorities. And perhaps it will make more sense if I really talk about my
• 03:00 - 03:30 life so far and talk about specific incidents that make me really think that hey, you know, maybe we don't have such a bad system after all. Now to give a little bit more background, I'm not sure whether I can be considered someone who has slipped through the cracks because I come from a middle-class family, right? We are not rich but neither will be poor. and I was in a secondary school and junior college that you know some people might call elite but I flopped at A level so I didn't have a degree and I came out to work right uh these things I have mentioned before on my YouTube channel but in case you're new here I
• 03:30 - 04:00 was an interest agent for about a year and a half earning pretty decent amount until I realized that the products were crap which is why I was earning quite a lot uh yeah and then I moved uh to an independent financial advisory firm to do the right thing for my clients to sell policies that were low cost uh cost effective uh ethical for my clients and then I was earning about $1,000 per month for about three years of my life. At the time I also fell into depression. So I consulted uh with a psychiatrist uh at NUH and I remember the bill coming up to about 30 plus dollars uh after
• 04:00 - 04:30 subsidy and even as someone who was earning $1,000 per month. $30 of course was not a small sum but I thought hey this was pretty affordable uh there government subsidy and then I realized that because uh depression is considered a chronic illness I could use my medicave to pay for it and it really struck me at that point of time that someone really had to think about this issue right that uh people with chronic illnesses even mental illnesses had to draw down from their medsafe and therefore they implemented this measure
• 04:30 - 05:00 um and as a young person back then I really hated the idea of Med save and having to contribute to Medisafe. But because you know through my part-time jobs through my uh insurance agent stint I had to set aside amount of money in my medave and that now became useful when I needed uh funds for my medical bills. So it really made me wonder you know what else am I really faulting the government for that is really entirely reasonable for them to do. And over the years I
• 05:00 - 05:30 just find myself more and more aligned with the incumbent party. And it's not to say that the opposition or WP is bad, right? It's just that I find that the PAP tends to have very good intention behind their policies even though they can be very unpopular ones. So yeah, over the years I feel like they have been unfairly criticized for a lot of things and particularly this general elections. So I think I'll go through one or two hot uh topics and then also talk about some of my worries and thoughts about this general election and you know years the years that will come. The first issue is taxes and the most
• 05:30 - 06:00 hotly debated one is GST right and I really am a bit perplexed by the amount of criticism that the 9% GST has gathered and you know people are saying that is a regressive tax because um you know as a percentage of total income the poor will incur a lot more but the way they have designed it and they have repeatedly stated is that there are GST vouchers that you know are given to lower income and middle-class families uh and you know everybody pays GST But only the lower to middle income people
• 06:00 - 06:30 will get GST vouchers which makes it a more progressive system. So I think the criticism that is a regressive tax actually quite unfounded because it you know benefits the lower income more than the higher income which you know who don't get GST vouchers in return and the higher income people they tend to incur more GST on an absolute basis because they will buy more expensive things. Moreover, people like foreigners and tourists they pay GST and they don't get any GST vouchers. Sure, tourists will get some GST refund, but not everything can be refunded. So, I think it's a good way to collect a lot of uh taxes to fund
• 06:30 - 07:00 social spending like helping lower income families. Uh yeah, so I really feel that the criticism against it is quite unfair. Of course, if you disagree, okay, leave your comment, but do it in a civil manner below. So, when it comes to taxation, I think there's a common saying in Singapore where the government will give you one chicken wing, but take back one whole chicken. Uh but as a lower income person last time, I feel that that's not true, right? As a low-inccome person, I definitely got more benefits than the tax I pay. In fact, I paid zero income tax last time. Uh perhaps I pay some
• 07:00 - 07:30 GST. Yeah. And I got benefits um in excess of whatever tax uh whatever GST I was paying back then. And as a higher income person now, yes, definitely I am giving back the government a chicken when they only give me chicken wing. But I see that as a feature of a progressive tax system. And I am thankful to be in a position where I'm earning more and yeah, get taxed more. I guess that's just the the way a progressive tax system works. So when people say government gives you a chicken wing and takes a whole chicken, right? Is there any country that can actually give you entire chicken and only take in chicken
• 07:30 - 08:00 wing? I I don't think that make any financial financial sense. So I I think that our view on taxation in Singapore can be very unfair against the current policy. Of course, can they do better implement a little bit more wealth taxes? I do think so. Right. Where I think that they are not doing so well is that there can be someone a very rich rich person who has a lot of investments and there's zero capital gains tax. Dividends are not taxed at the personal level. Yeah. And so this person can be getting millions of dollars each year
• 08:00 - 08:30 taxfree whereas uh you know middle income uh people who rely on their jobs for a living actually pay quite high income taxes. Yeah. So I I I think that they should possibly look at introducing a little bit more wealth taxes which they have been doing. Okay, they have the BD uh BSD which is now 4% for high-end properties. They also have increased a little bit more again income tax at the higher end. But I think they can really explore at bringing back things like estate duty. Okay, again
• 08:30 - 09:00 they say that you know it might affect the middle class but you know just put a threshold like 10 15 million or something like that. Okay, but in this regard I feel that taxation wise they are not doing that evil a job as most people like to portray. I feel that the GST 9% GST is actually fine and I guess I'll get frame for it but again you know phrase your disagreement in a civil manner uh in the comments below. The second hot issue is housing affordability and I think that this is one area where I feel that we are actually not doing that badly in
• 09:00 - 09:30 considering the circumstances uh we are in and that is we are a small city state with very limited land and I feel that it's inevitable that housing in such a place is just going to be very very expensive and I really don't know where else in the world in a major city where you know residents of the city expect to own their housing and I think we and also blame PI for this, right? Because they are the ones that promoted uh home ownership and they continue to promote it to this day. Uh and therefore, I
• 09:30 - 10:00 guess people had expectations to own their homes. Uh I don't think it's a bad thing to promote and in fact I feel that affordability isn't that bad an issue in Singapore. In ULI, Asia-Pacific home attainability index, Singapore ranks number one in terms of home price to median annual household income ratio because of HTBS. And even if you look at private property, we are still more affordable than many major cities. Now, the report may be a little bit iffy because they use household income which can be skewed by the number of people in your household. But I recently helped a relative with their HTB paperwork. And I
• 10:00 - 10:30 was actually quite amazed at how they could afford a HTB even at their relatively low incomes. Uh but of course they have the BTO, they have to wait a while and it's not in the most prime of neighborhoods. But again, this is a reality of living in a small city state. So I don't think anyone has a magic bullet to say oh you know we can make affordable housing for everyone. It's just a reality of living in land scars Singapore. And if you don't fit into the traditional family mall which I don't right I'm a single person but I still managed to save up enough money to buy my little condo maybe not in the most
• 10:30 - 11:00 central of locations maybe not the biggest one. In fact it's very small and it would just uh be a roof over my head and I can sell it to unlock the capital to either buy a new property or to use for my retirement. Okay. Okay. And just to be perfectly clear, this was before the whole freelancer thing, right? I was earning $1,000 plus dollars per month for a few years of my life. And I slowly increased my income to median salary before I managed to buy my condo. So, I don't think it's that difficult a game to play even if you're a single person that can't rely on BTO. So, I really
• 11:00 - 11:30 don't think that the housing situation in Singapore is that dire. Of course, are there people priced out the market? I think definitely there will be but again there are grants there are no not so prime areas and there are even rental HDBs for those who really need a roof over their head uh but can't afford to buy so I really don't think the housing situation in Singapore is that bad uh can be improved I think everything can be improved but again I don't think any party has a magic bullet to magically make everybody be able to afford housing
• 11:30 - 12:00 it's just not possible in a you know small city state like ours and again I think you know government has to balance the interest of all stakeholders including people who have bought before right in fact this is not a new issue right I found this video of Harrit Singh right WP's candidate for Pongo in 1996 asking Mr. Lee Kwanu about housing affordability can you imagine you rewind the clock 29 years ago and there were people who were complaining about high
• 12:00 - 12:30 cost of HDB's and private property I think Mr. Le coinu's answer still holds true to this day and that is that we live in a city where many people want to live in and therefore prices are quite high. It is true 30 years ago. It is true now and it be true 30 years later and in light of the circumstances I do think that home ownership is still an achievable goal for many Singaporeans and that can't be said in a lot of major cities all over the world. Now there are of course many other hot issues which I think the government has done better on some and worse in others. uh but I I
• 12:30 - 13:00 just don't have the time nor the energy to go through every single one uh for something that I'm not paid for. I'm not sponsored by government to say this. Right. So I just end off by stating my worry for Singapore moving forward. And I just feel like um it may be an erosion of a system that has worked well for us over the years. Some people might say it's for the better, but I personally feel that it might um lead us down a slippery slope towards mediocrity because my view of a effective
• 13:00 - 13:30 government is that they must be able to do two things. One, they must be able to consolidate power very well and number two, they must be able to wield that power for the benefit of people. Now, throughout history, I think we have people who are able to consolidate power, but then they don't really wield it for the good of the people, right? This includes a lot of dictators and you know people die under their charge and then we have people who are you know willing to use their powers for good. I think Obama is an example but he wasn't really able to consolidate power and push through a lot of policies that he
• 13:30 - 14:00 would have liked to do so and I think that we are one of the rare systems where we actually have two right we have both in our government. So, and I think we have the closest form to this thing called benevolent absolutism. Uh, which is like a very wise emperor who has absolute power but uses the power in a very uh, you know, in a manner that's benevalent and good for its sub uh, his subjects. So, is our government doing a 10 job right now? I don't think so. But I think uh, it's at least a seven if not
• 14:00 - 14:30 a 7.5. And if we just keep trying to say, oh, you know, we could do better. You can go for eight. he can go for even nine and then we slowly vote in more people and erode their ability to consolidate power. I I don't know. I I just feel that whoever is the next government of the day be it WP or someone else will find it also difficult to fend off um you know its political rival it could be PA in opposition at that time and then we just end up in a system where two parties are just vying for control and they are always working
• 14:30 - 15:00 in fiveyear cycles trying to secure the next election rather than focusing on the long-term thing. Right. Already I feel like PP has to scramble to meet with uh you know the different challenges that the opposition has posed this election. I really don't know how they can continue to do long-term planning when it seems like every 5 years they're going to lose uh you know one more GRC, one more GC until they are no longer the dominant party in charge. That's my worry. Of course it could be well unfounded. Um yeah, but that's why I worry uh you know that there's a slow
• 15:00 - 15:30 erosion over the next 10 to 20 years and we no longer become an exceptional country which I I feel that we are but it's definitely not something that we should take for granted and anyway yeah thanks for watching to the end of the video and you should check out my telegram if you want personal finance updates to earn more on credit card and s account and also check out this video where I talk to the backholder part about the general election. So see you in that video.