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About us
We are the Singapore Poverty Party (SPP), who won the general elections in 2010. We aim to combat poverty in Singapore and hope that this goal can be achieved through our proposed solutions. We hope that the problem of poverty in Singapore will be resolved, and that every citizen will lead a comfortable life.
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Aims
Promoting fairness among all Singaporeans regardless of race, language, religion or social status, and to provide availability to basic necessities so as to enable Singaporeans to lead an affordable lifestyle. We also aim to ensure that all citizens have a sense of belonging towards Singapore and are able to live in comfort. Furthermore, we aim to improve Singapore's economy by helping the poor and less privileged citizens (mostly the elderly) to find jobs. As one people, one nation, we’ll work hand in hand and move forward together. No one is left behind.
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Values
1. We believe that each and every citizen has a right to live comfortably.
2. We believe that there should be care for every citizen.
3. We believe that citizens should help each other as well as practice self-reliance.
4. We believe that no one should be left out in the society and that everyone has a part to play to contribute to the economy of Singapore.
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Analysis of the problem
Despite Singapore being a first world country with many economic developments, there are still a minority of people suffering from poverty. Primarily, these poverty issues occur because of lack of jobs, and also because of the high cost of living. The people suffering from poverty mostly include the elderly because many are uneducated and lack the skills to find a job. Even if they do have a job, they do not earn much because they are lowly paid. Also, many are at the age of retirement and may not have any children to support them.
In addition, many people in Singapore are quite well to do and are thus oblivious to the poverty issues some people suffer from. Moreover, the people suffering from poverty do not receive enough help. It has therefore become an increasing problem to our country. Although there has been help from the government, we do not see any significant improvement. Schemes that have been implemented are often short term solutions and therefore do not have long term effects to help those in poverty.
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Our solutions
1. Implementing courses free of charge for upgrading of their skills.
Since many elderly do not have a high degree of education, we aim to set up classes specially for them to learn skills to help them stay relevant in the workforce. These can include simple administrative classes, like helping them to learn simple computing and basic communicative and english skills. Also, these classes will be free of charge because we are aware that the elderly do not have enough money to support themselves as well as these classes. By providing these classes, the elderly have basic skills to enable them to find jobs.
2. Providing jobs for the elderly.
By providing jobs for the elderly, it ensures that the elderly receives a minimum amount of income sufficient to support themselves and able to make ends meet. It also helps towards Singapore’s economy and reduces the number of elderly living in poverty. Since the elderly are rather weak and have deteriorating health, we aim to provide jobs that do not require physical movement but instead, providing jobs that only require basic communicative and administrative skills for the elderly. These jobs do not require much physical ability and hence will not pose any threat to the elderly’s health and well-being.
3. Working with organizations to provide necessities.
We aim to work with a variety of organizations like elderly homes as well as private hospitals to allow them to take in elderly without shelter or money for medical bills. If organizations agree to work with us, we will pay them a fixed amount of money in return every month. This is better than giving money to the elderly themselves, because if the elderly receive the money, it does not promote self-reliance and the money may be mistreated or used without usefulness.
4. Reformatting the tax system.
This is to ensure that the population in Singapore is being taxed according to their income means. It allows the elderly living in poverty to pay less taxes and hence the richer will have to pay more taxes as they have higher earnings. In this way, the burden of paying taxes will not leave the elderly in poverty and at the same time, there is a sense of fairness.
5. Minimum wage.
Every employer should pay a minimum wage of $2000 to their employees, to ensure that every person will have sufficient money to pay their rent, household bills, and basic food. In this way, there will be a guarantee that people will not fall below the poverty line as they are given more money.
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