Friday, December 08, 2017

Top priorities for PM Lee in 2018

What are the top priorities for PM Lee in 2018? Should they be reflected in Budget 2018?

Here are the views expressed by votes in a survey carried out in The Wisdom of the Crowd.

a) Improve wages and security of jobs - 38%
b) Reduce the cost of living - 30%
c) Solve the MRT problem - 17%
d) Settle his quarrel with his siblings - 9%
e) Play an active role as chair of ASEAN - 7%

The first two choices, totalling 68%, affect the financial well being of the citizens.

The likely increase in GST will make matters worse. It will increase the cost of living beyond the additional revenue that will flow to the government. It has an escalating effect. A 2% increase in GST is likely to translate to a 5% or 10% increase in prices in many places.

17% said that he should focus on solving the MRT problem. Perhaps he should just ask if the frequent breakdowns are due to the new signal system and if the teething problems are being sorted out, or remain unresolved?

Maybe, he can take the hard political decision to get Hong Kong MTR or Taipei MRT to manage the SMRT? That would be somewhat embarrasing for Singapore, but it could be not as bad as the frequent breakdowns.

How can he settle his quarrels with his siblings? It could be easy. He just need to disband the minsterial committee that looks into what to do with the house that Mr LKY lived in previously. He should just allow the house to remain a private residence.

Can he do much as chair of ASEAN? Will that help Singapore? We do not know. But he should not spend too much time on it, while there are so many problems to be solved in Singapore, right?

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